EA’s BioWare Acquisition, How The Mega Publisher Helped The Developers Escape Immediate Closure

Quote from Mass Effect

BioWare is one of the most beloved studios in gaming for their story-driven focus and attention to detail when it comes to the RPG genre. Of the many series under their belt, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are arguably the most popular, but the two adventures may not have gotten off the ground had things gone a bit differently. In fact, we may have Electronic Arts’ notable BioWare acquisition to thank for either franchise being made at all.

This past weekend saw the LGBTQ-themed gaming convention HavenCon take place in Austin, Texas, where attendees were greeted by a few writers that worked on past BioWare projects. Speaking at the event, former Mass Effect lead writer Patrick Weekes, lead editor Karin Weekes, and Dragon Age writer David Gaider disclosed a number of interesting tidbits regarding the BioWare franchises with conversation eventually landing on the topic of Electronic Arts.

According to a Reddit user, the writers revealed that before the mega-publisher acquired BioWare, the studio had “essentially run out of money” and would have likely “gone under” had EA not stepped in when they did. It was around this turbulent time when Dragon Age II was in mid-way through development with the project being described as “admittedly very rushed” by the panel.

The trio reaffirmed that while EA’s “chief concern is money” (as with any huge company), there hasn’t really been a feeling of overt micromanagement on their end. Whenever developers insisted on including a “risky” feature that pushed the envelope in some way, a typical response to this was along the lines of “do you think you can do it right?” This echoes what former boss Aaryn Flynn had to say of the BioWare acquisition, describing it as a largely hands-off setup between the two entities.

Being that a new game is in the works, HavenCon was also unsurprisingly full of curious Dragon Age fans waiting to hear of any progress on the project. Unfortunately, nothing was able to be disclosed due to a ban on questions about the fourquel, but that’s hardly a shock considering the current state of the game’s development.

What do you think? Are you glad that EA’s BioWare acquisition ultimately took place, or do you think the studio had a chance to make it without them? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more recent BioWare news, check out these next few links:

• Former BioWare Writer Finished Work On Anthem Before Leaving, Confirms Hudson
• Dragon Age’s Mike Laidlaw Reveals Why He Left BioWare (VIDEO)
• Potential Dragon Age Microtransactions Addressed By BioWare GM

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