BioWare is my Favorite Developer, so how do I feel about Anthem?

A Comprehensive History and Look at the Future


            I had a few other ideas to what my next article would be here at Star District Gaming. Before I got started with my writing however, an investigative report from one of the best journalist’s in the gaming industry, Jason Schreier, wrote up an article for Kotaku about BioWare and their upcoming videogame, Anthem. BioWare, for over a decade now, has been my favorite videogame developer. With all of the recent news regarding Anthem, Mass Effect, and the state of the studio under publisher Electronic Arts (EA), I thought this was a perfect time to write up my thoughts on how I feel about where the developer is going in 2018 and beyond, and how they became one of the most iconic developers in the gaming industry. From classic role-playing games, to vast science fiction universes, and even a Sonic the Hedgehog Nintendo DS game, BioWare has made many instant classics; however, many feel the future of the studio is in jeopardy, and hinges on their next upcoming release, Anthem.

(Left to Right) Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk

For over two decades now, BioWare has continually been one of the most respected videogame developers in the industry. Until recently, almost every game has earned critical praise, and their games are always some of the most anticipated in the minds of many gamers. For anyone not familiar with the studio, I figured it would be best to take a step back and look at the history of the studio before we assess the present state of BioWare and where the studio is going to in the future. BioWare is a Canadian-based videogame development studio that was founded in 1995 by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. The three were newly graduated medical doctors at the time who decided to follow their passion and start a development studio to make videogames. The first game made under BioWare was, oddly enough, a “mech-simulator” game by the name of Shattered Steel, that was fairly well received, and released a year after the studio formed. The release of Shattered Steel would start the partnership between BioWare and publisher Interplay Productions. The founders of BioWare had a passion however for pen and paper and computer role-playing games (RPG’s), not necessarily “mech-simulators”. This passion blossomed into development for a demo project with the name Battleground: Infinity. Interplay, having acquired the license to the famous role-playing franchise, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), decided to have the game be made to fit into the famed role-playing series. This demo would soon become Baldur’s Gate, one of the most influential and note-worthy RPG’s ever made. The game released in 1998, and over time has sold more than two million copies (with 1.5 million being within the first two years). During the development time of Baldur’s Gate, Muzyka and Zeschuk made the decision to leave their medical careers to work on the game full-time; Yip, however, left the studio to continue practice medicine.

Baldur's Gate

In the year 2000, BioWare had two new releases. A sequel to another developer’s game, MDK 2, released that March, and a few months later the studio released a sequel to their own new series with Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Both games were very well received, but it was the Baldur’s Gate series that really cemented the studio as a name within fans of the RPG genre. The two games in the franchise have an average Metacritic score of 93 out of 100 on the review aggregate site, and BioWare would soon become synonymous when gamers thought of quality RPG’s. BioWare would go on to make another highly-scored RPG in the D&D universe, Neverwinter Nights. This game was also set to be published by Interplay, but because of financial troubles, it was then taken over by publisher, Infogrames. Neverwinter Nights was originally released in 2002, included an online component, and would spawn off several expansions, and a sequel made by developer Obsidian Entertainment.


Following the release of Neverwinter Nights, BioWare would then go on to develop another one of their most well-known RPG’s to date, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic; which would release in 2003 and be published by LucasArts. Another highly-reviewed game for the developer, with an aggregate score of 94 out of 100, KOTOR would also mark the emergence of long-time BioWare developer Casey Hudson as game director for the first time. To this day, the game is still close to many gamers’ heart and many would consider it one of the best games ever made with the Star Wars license. Knights of the Old Republic would also have a heavy emphasis on a morality system, where your actions could change the direction of the story. This mechanic which would become a staple of the series, and the genre as a whole, as time went on. The sequel to KOTOR, like Neverwinter Nights, would again be developed by the closely-associated studio, Obsidian Entertainment. In the meantime, BioWare would next release Jade Empire in 2005; the studio’s first original intellectual property (IP) in the RPG genre. Jade Empire would be yet another hit for the studio, with an 89 out of 100 in Metacritic. The game also moved away from classic turn-based RPG mechanics, to a more action-oriented real-time combat style for its gameplay. Jade Empire would also be the first of two games to be published by Microsoft.




To be clear, I never played any of the above games within BioWare’s storied past. The second of the two games published by Microsoft however, was the first BioWare game I ever played, and changed the way I viewed videogames ever since. This game was Mass Effect, and is absolutely one of the most influential games in my personal gaming history. I plan on getting more into how this game affected me personally, and how it changed my entire view of gaming as a medium, in a different article. For now, I’ll just say I was sold on this game after the first article and screenshots I saw in an issue of Official Xbox Magazine, and is an all-time instant classic, in my opinion. Mass Effect may be considered BioWare’s most modern claim to fame since Baldur’s Gate. It is a science-fiction role-playing game that improves upon the morality system from previous BioWare games, and includes deep, meaningful choices to have your character shape the outcome of the entire Milky Way galaxy. As the first entry into an announced trilogy where these choices are meant to carry on into future games, they absolutely knocked it out of the park. With a 91 out of 100 on Metacritic, multiple perfect scores, and numerous nominations and awards at the end of the year, BioWare had a massive mainstream success on their hands. The story was layered, the characters deep, and the sense of scale and ambition was unrivaled at the time. There were a few technical shortcomings, but nothing that BioWare’s quality in story-telling and world-building didn’t make up for. This was the second game under creative director Casey Hudson, and written by acclaimed video game writer Drew Karpyshyn (who also wrote many of BioWare’s previous games). The game released in November 2007, about a month after BioWare became a division of Electronic Arts (EA). Back in 2005, BioWare and fellow development team, Pandemic Studios joined together with an investment behind them from a company known as Elevation Partners. Jump back ahead to October 2007, and EA then purchases rights to the two studios from Elevation for $860 million, making both BioWare and Pandemic now studios under EA. Microsoft still had publishing rights to the first Mass Effect however, and it would be another 5 years before the original Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows game would make it over to rival Sony’s console, the PlayStation 3.


Before the EA acquisition, BioWare had been working on a handheld project since sometime in 2006. This game was being published by Sega for release on the Nintendo DS portable game system. The game, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, released in late 2008 to generally favorable reviews (with an average score of 74 out of 100), but was still BioWare’s lowest scored game since Shattered Steel. A sequel was teased at the end of The Dark Brotherhood, hinting that the story driven RPG may continue, but since EA acquired the studio, these plans were put away while BioWare was adding finishing touches on their next beloved RPG franchise. Development for this new IP has roots all the way back to 2002, where BioWare was building a spiritual successor to the Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights games, but without being tied down to the D&D license. This new fantasy RPG, Dragon Age: Origins released in November 2009 to critical acclaim, and would go on to spawn two released sequels (with another currently in development), even though it was never planned as the start of a new ongoing series. The game continued to add to BioWare’s notariaty for immaculate story-telling and compelling characters, and was yet another check in the “win” column for the much-celebrated studio.

Dragon Age: Origins



A short two months later in January of 2010, BioWare released the eagerly anticipated sequel to the Mass Effect franchise with Mass Effect 2. This is my personal favorite game of all-time, which I’m sure I will write about in more detail going forward in another article. Mass Effect 2 would become BioWare’s highest rated game on Metacritic, sitting at 96 out of 100, and is even regarded in the echelon of the greatest games ever made to many games media outlets. While it took some steps back in its RPG elements in turn for some more action oriented gameplay, the story, characters and game design may be at the top of anything BioWare has ever made. This is in stark contrast to how another sequel to a successful new franchise, Dragon Age II, was received a year later in 2011. To many, this was one of BioWare’s biggest missteps at the time. It seemed to have been a highly rushed sequel that was missing much of the quality that Dragon Age: Origins had brought to the table. There were re-used environments, streamlined game-mechanics, and the game largely took place in one main area, instead of the many different locales and deep narrative the first game in the series brought. While I enjoyed the more intimate story Dragon Age II told, and the characters are right up there with BioWare’s best, I absolutely understand how this game was seen as one of BioWare’s lesser works. That said, it still reviewed well, with an 82 out of 100 average score, even if it’s public perception is one of the most mixed among fans and critics.

Dragon Age II

Later in 2011, BioWare released its first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), while going back to the Star Wars universe, with Star Wars: The Old Republic. While not as revered as the KOTOR games, there is still a very solid and continuous fanbase that has kept the game alive for years post-release. The Old Republic was developed by BioWare Austin, a sister studio formed specifically to build this game. Development had started all the way back in 2006, and the game has been receiving updates and expansions all the up through 2016. BioWare Austin had also started development on an asymmetrical online multiplayer named Shadow Realms, that was announced in 2014, and then ultimately cancelled less than a year later in early 2015. Although Austin is still in business after working on The Old Republic, and now assisting on the BioWare “prime” team in BioWare Edmonton by working on the newly announced title, Anthem, there have been other BioWare studios formed that have not fared as well in the end. BioWare San Francisco, BioWare Mythic, BioWare Victory, Waystone Games, and BioWare Sacramento had all been formed into BioWare studios either after making smaller, web browser-based, or social-networking-based games for EA, or being formed to make games that were never released such as Command & Conquer: Generals 2, Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, or Dawngate. Another notable studio that was formed to support the main Edmonton site was BioWare Montreal, but we’ll get to more on them later.

Mass Effect 3

In the meantime, BioWare Edmonton was hard at work on more sequels to their most successful new franchises. Mass Effect 3 released in early 2012, and Dragon Age: Inquisition in late 2014. Mass Effect 3 was the end of the trilogy the original set in place, and is still regarded as one of BioWare’s top games. Even so, this began a downward trend for the franchise as the ending of the game was highly divisive. In many ways, it was not what the fans had in mind for how the trilogy would come to a close, and in part of the game’s post release content, BioWare patched in a more fleshed-out ending that fans wanted, and some even demanded for. While not addressing all of the issues some fans had, for example, many of the choices that carried over throughout the three games didn’t really come into play as the ending was more of a singular choice, instead of taking other aspects and decisions of the trilogy into consideration. One theory is that the game was rushed, and the ending suffered the most from that. The majority of Mass Effect 3 is some of BioWare’s greatest work in narrative, character-development, and refined action role-playing combat, yet the ending has a distinctively different feel when compared to everything leading up to the final moments. It could be chalked up to it being creatively difficult to end such a robust and interesting fictional universe, but also many believe it be pressure from publisher, Electronic Arts, to release the game within a certain time-frame, an issue that will repeat itself going forward within the EA/BioWare relationship.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

On the flip side of the controversy from Mass Effect 3 and the mixed reception of Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition was viewed as a return to form in the eyes of many BioWare fans. There are some criticisms about the game and how I handled open-world game design for the first time in the developer’s history, the game was still highly reviewed and won many Game of the Year awards for 2014. It continued the studio’s trend of great characters and story-telling, and addressed many of the issues fans had with Dragon Age II, while bringing back many of the RPG elements that its predecessor had lacked. However, when the game was announced back in late 2012, the day after there was a big shake-up at the top of the studio. Both Muzyka and Zeschuk, the founders of BioWare decided to step-down and retire from game development. While some say this was from the consumer back-lash after Mass Effect 3, they had said they wanted to pursue new endeavors in their respective blog posts to their fans. Shortly after, Matthew Bromberg took over as general manager for the studio, soon followed by Aaryn Flynn, who was previously in charge of BioWare’s Canada studios in Edmonton and Montreal.

Characters from the Mass Effect series

After the success the studio found with Inquisition, many fans eagerly awaited what BioWare would be announcing next. In the summer of 2015 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Electronic Arts formerly announced Mass Effect: Andromeda, a side-story of sorts to move away from the controversy from Mass Effect 3, but still be able to continue the franchise. At the E3 the year prior in 2014, it was revealed by Casey Hudson that BioWare was working on something new in the Mass Effect series, as well as new original IP, which would turn out to be the upcoming Anthem. Just two months after that reveal however, Hudson announced he was leaving BioWare to join Microsoft and work on their ongoing Holo-Lens technology. Although Hudson had a hand in how Andromeda initially was planned, the majority of development was done by the aforementioned (and now closed) BioWare Montreal. Montreal had assisted the team in Edmonton on prior projects, and had worked closely on the post release content of the original Mass Effect trilogy, as well as Mass Effect 3’s online multiplayer mode, all of which was generally viewed positively. Mass Effect: Andromeda would be the first game the studio would be lead development on, and the making of this game would continue the downward spiral of the Mass Effect franchise, as well as the perception of EA, and the relationship they have with their developing partners.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

I don’t want to go too deep down the rabbit hole about the troubled development and intricacies around Andromeda in this article, believe me, it’s more than enough for its own piece that I plan on writing after a replay of the game. If you haven’t read it, and you’re interested in digging further behind the development around Andromeda, I absolutely recommend the investigative report Jason Schreier wrote about it shortly after Andromeda released. In short, while I enjoyed a lot about Andromeda (it was my runner-up for favorite game of 2017), there are myriad issues from both technical and narrative perspectives. From being forced by EA to use their internal game engine, Frostbite, to not being be able to have a strong vision for the game for years of its development time, Mass Effect: Andromeda never lived up to the potential that the original trilogy put in place. BioWare Montreal’s team on Andromeda had many people working there who were fans of the original Mass Effect games, and in a way, Andromeda almost feels like a fan-made game because of it, missing the polish and experience of the Edmonton team. Not that the developers at Montreal are not talented, but between a lack of knowledge on the engine, and EA out-sourcing parts of development, many aspects of the game suffered. Andromeda could have been a great launching off point on a new trajectory for the series, and there really were a lot of well-thought out design choices in the game that in the end wasn’t enough to outshine the many issues the game had in the eyes of many consumers and critics. In reviews, it ranged from mediocre to good, averaging about a 73 out of 100 on Metacritic. This was an all-time low, not only for the Mass Effect series, but for any modern BioWare game. Not only were the reviews low in many cases, but word-of mouth, and the sharing of many GIF’s and videos of the game’s technical short-comings didn’t do Andromeda’s public perception any favors, even after critics judged the game quite fairly.

Screenshot from a pre-release trailer of Andromeda


In-engine gameplay from Andromeda

Shortly after Andromeda released in early 2017, Electronic Arts announced that the Mass Effect franchise would be put on hiatus for an indefinite time. Time that will absolutely be needed to get the bad taste of Andromeda out of the consumer’s mouth. Even though Mass Effect is my favorite series in any entertainment medium, I’m more than okay with this decision, and I believe it’s the right one. Even though some of Andromeda’s problems could be attributed to EA’s interference with the developers, or putting an inexperienced team on such a notable franchise, I think they made the hard choice that they had to by moving the series to the back burner. They dug their own grave with one of their biggest money-makers, and now they must lie in it, and I think EA realizes that. 2017 was a bad year for EA; between Andromeda, and other games such as Star Wars: Battlefront II and Need for Speed: Payback also getting a lot of consumer backlash, they need to reevaluate a lot of their practices if they want to gain any good will back from the fans. Putting Mass Effect on hold for one, instead of trying to put another one out so quickly, is ultimately for the best. Hell, I would have been fine if Mass Effect was just the original trilogy, and it ended there, but I understand how businesses work, and I get why they wanted to make Andromeda.  For the same reason, I believe they will eventually work on another game with the Mass Effect name. It would be a shame if the series ended on such a sour note with Andromeda, but if it does, and I’m wrong about them coming back to the series one day, I’m still okay with that. We had a masterpiece in gaming with Mass Effect 1 through 3, and I would be content leaving the series with what we have, and going back to the original trilogy from time to time. However, there is one reason to be excited for the future of Mass Effect after Andromeda. The return of series creator, Casey Hudson.

Casey Hudson


During the development time of Andromeda, many key names left the studio. Mentioned before, Casey Hudson, was maybe the most notable of those names, as well as original Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 writer, Drew Karpyshyn. Three months after Andromeda’s lukewarm release, EA held their annual E3 press conference, a time were many new games are announced. After Andromeda, there had been nothing officially announced to be coming from BioWare. They had teased a new original game, as well as many rumors and unofficial confirmations that a new Dragon Age (for now being called Dragon Age 4 for all intents and purposes), but when Andromeda was announced to not be receiving any post-release content, many fans wanted to know what to be expecting next from BioWare. At E3 2017, Electronic Arts showed Anthem, BioWare’s first new IP in eight years, for the first time. The new game has been in development by BioWare’s “A-Team” in Edmonton in some form since 2012, and was announced to be released in fall 2018. Anthem is going to be a multiplayer, shared world, third person, action game, and is said to be a “10-year journey” for BioWare by EA’s vice president, Patrick Soderlund. It seems like a lot of buzz words, but as years go by, it gets harder to nail a game down by genre. From what we can tell, it’s going to be a lot like Bungie’s Destiny games, but from a third person perspective, and more focus on story. From the trailers that were shown during E3, the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic, science-fiction world, where the player takes control of characters called Freelancers who wear suits (not too dissimilar to an Iron Man suit) called Javelins. At first glance, I thought the game looked extremely interesting, but for the most part, I’m not a multiplayer gamer. From time to time I’ll play them a little, but it’s not my genre of choice. It’s partly why I loved previous BioWare games in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series as much as I did, since they are profoundly story-based, narrative heavy, RPG’s. The world and gameplay have me fascinated, but for the first time in years, I’ve a little hesitant about a game from my favorite developer.

Aaryn Flynn

A month after Anthem was announced, BioWare general manager, Aaryn Flynn announced he would be leaving the studio. Its rumored that this was because of the negative reception to Andromeda, but Flynn claims it’s for personal reasons, and I’m not one to say otherwise. I always liked hearing Flynn talk about the upcoming releases for BioWare, and you could always tell, he was just as much of a fan as everyone else who enjoyed their games. I was sad to hear he would be stepping down, but in the same breath it was announced that Mass Effect’s original creative director would be replacing Flynn. Casey Hudson, who had worked on the Mass Effect trilogy, and had some hand in early pre-production in Andromeda and Anthem, would be coming back to lead the studio. For many BioWare fans who were beginning to lose hope in the studio let out a collective sigh of relief. If anyone can right the ship after Andromeda, many are hoping Hudson is the one. Of course, nothing is certain, but I am excited to see him back after the few years since his noteworthy departure. Not only was Hudson coming back, but writer Drew Karpyshyn was also announced to be back after working on Mass Effect 1 and 2, to work on Anthem. Having Karpyshyn back especially builds faith in my hopes for Anthem. If it is as multiplayer-centric as it seems to be, a strong enough narrative I think could still bring me in and hopefully enjoy the story Karpyshyn is forming. The world looks immersive, and the broad science-fiction foundations have already caught my attention. With Hudson leading the studio, and Drew writing for BioWare game, I’ve gotten much more excited for Anthem, while keeping my expectations in check after EA’s trouble with its recent games, and the multiplayer focus for Anthem.

Anthem

All of the recent news and announcements around BioWare almost exclusively circulate around Anthem now. BioWare may be thrilled for it not be about Andromeda anymore, but many fans are worried that if Anthem doesn’t do well, it could mean the end of the studio. EA is no stranger to closing studios, and after Andromeda’s poor reception, it doesn’t seem too far-fetched for gamers to be worried. According to a recent report that instigated me to write this from Jason Schreier, almost all of BioWare, at both its Edmonton and Austin studios, are working hard on Anthem to try and keep the studio’s name alive and well. Even if Anthem fails and EA doesn’t swing the axe on BioWare, the studio’s namesake could still essentially be tarnished. With so many ongoing “games-as-services” out for consumers to play, it’s imperative that BioWare can set Anthem apart from the competition so it can gain relevance and a constant player base, as well as succeeding in areas that these games such as Destiny 2 and The Division didn’t too well according to their fans and critics. According to Schreier’s reports, many employee’s feel the future of the studio rest’s in Anthem’s hands. Even though there are some groups of developers piecing together the all but officially confirmed Dragon Age 4, if Anthem doesn’t live up to EA’s expectations, this next game in the fan-favorite Dragon Age series may never see the light of day. Even the executive producer of the Dragon Age series, Mark Darrah, has been moved to focus on Anthem after previously being confirmed to only be working on Dragon Age 4. While it’s not uncommon for a studio to ramp up development in the last year, BioWare has always been a studio working on multiple games. Shifting developers off Dragon Age 4 and the continually maintained MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, in Austin to be all hands on deck for Anthem shows us how vital this release is for BioWare.


Schreier goes on to report that, again, BioWare has been having issues with the Frostbite engine. Just like Inquisition and Andromeda before it, the Frostbite engine continually shows it’s not well-suited for RPG’s, as it was originally built with first-person shooters in mind. This hasn’t stopped EA from having every game in their stable to now be made with the Frostbite engine, despite these issues being a regular occurrence. However, according to BioWare employees that Schreier spoke to, development on Anthem has improved and is looking better after a rough start. There’s a lot riding on Anthem, but with hopeful developers, and even some of them going to Reddit to answer fan questions and concerns about the game, there still seems to be optimism when looking forward to its upcoming release. In more recent reports, Anthem has been officially delayed from upcoming fall 2018, to Q1 2019 (up to March 2019), but is unlikely to move from there since that would push the game out of EA’s financial quarter for that year. This delay echoed the voices of BioWare employees who said a fall 2018 release was never going to be obtainable, but with only adding about six months of development time, I hope it will be enough to keep development on track to be ready for the Q1 2019 release.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Even with Anthem buzzing all around the games media news as of late, there’s also continued murmurings around Dragon Age 4 as well. To be perfectly clear, I don’t think this game will even release on this generation of gaming consoles, but it is eagerly anticipated by me, and other fans nonetheless. In Schreier’s recent reports with BioWare, it was said that in the last year, the title has been rebooted. Not a reboot of the series from what I can infer, but just the direction of the next game in the franchise. The conspiracy theorist in me can draw the correlation to this rebooting to the departure of Dragon Age’s long-time creative director, Mike Laidlaw, in October 2017. I like to think there is no real connection there, but it is hard to say for sure, and ultimately is just my speculation. Schreier’s report point that the rebooting is in favor of adding “live” elements to the game. While this at first sounded like a cause of concern that EA may be turning a beloved RPG into an ongoing, online games-as-service just like Anthem, Casey Hudson soon tweeted out that by “live” it meant “designing a game for continued storytelling” and that the title is still “story and character focused”. It’s too early to tell for sure, but that did come to the relief of many fans for the time being who are excited for more in the Dragon Age series.


The videogame industry has changed a lot in the twenty years since BioWare first started, and many names have come and gone from the studio, and even returned during that time as well. Development focus, and the public eye is all on Anthem, and if BioWare survives, there seems to already be controversy waiting to start for the next Dragon Age. After that, it’s anyone’s guess. Will Mass Effect return? Will Anthem be so successful that they green-light a sequel right away? Will BioWare begin work on another new IP? My hope, of course, is that Anthem brings BioWare back to its glory days, and has fans and gamers excited for the studio’s work once again. With Hudson and Karpyshyn back at BioWare, and developers feeling that progress on Anthem is getting better as time goes on, there is reason to be hopeful as a BioWare fan. BioWare has made some of favorite games of all-time, and I hope to continually enjoy their work for many years to come.
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Anthem

What do you think of Anthem? What is your favorite BioWare game? I would love to hear what you have to say! Of course, if you have any critiques or feedback, please let me know in the comments or any of the social media below! Thank you, and I greatly appreciate the time you’ve taken to read this.

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All sources are from Wikipedia and linked articles to kotaku.com

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