BioWare - The Great Bioware Exodus

@Equityarcade, Matthew Loffhagen examines the exodus of Biowares creative talent and what it means for Bioware and the rpg industry at large.

In addition to losing many of its key staff members (including the company's founders, who departed shortly after the release of Mass Effect 3 in 2012), the studio has also announced the cancellation of several new projects in recent years, including Shadow Realms, a game which was intended to see release last year but which was ultimately canned.

All of this upheaval has led many speculators to wonder how much of the original company's creative spark remains intact.

The Canadian developer, known primarily for a long legacy of immersive choose-your-own-adventure style roleplaying games, was sold to Electronic Arts in 2007. Gamers noted that future titles from the studio were far more visually impressive, but lacked much of the depth that BioWare had previously been known for.

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With so many key members of the BioWare team leaving for greener pastures, though, the studio's future is uncertain. As EA replace more key staff members, the original creative spark that made BioWare games unique becomes further diluted, as BioWare assimilates further into the EA brand.

Meanwhile, with so many veteran RPG makers moving to work on new projects with different companies, fans of the classics may be pleased to see more games emulating BioWare's storytelling style. Chris Wynn, for example, having left the Mass Effect franchise behind, has already found a place for himself working with Daybreak to produce H1-Z1, a zombie MMO. Similarly, Casey Hudson, the creator of the Mass Effect franchise, has joined the team working on Microsoft's HoloLens peripheral.

While the future of what's left of the BioWare company is anything but certain, it's likely that the next few years will see a variety of high quality games and technologies appearing from various corners of the gaming industry, as artists and writers who honed their creative skills at the legendary developer move on to grace other companies with their talents.