BioWare facts for kids
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Headquarters at the Epcor Tower
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1 February 1995 |
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Canada
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Key people
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| Products | List of BioWare video games |
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Number of employees
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<100 (2025) |
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| Subsidiaries | See § Subsidiaries |
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer that creates some of the world's most popular role-playing video games (RPGs). The company is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was started on February 1, 1995, by three recent medical school graduates: Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. Since 2007, BioWare has been owned by the American game publisher Electronic Arts (EA).
BioWare is famous for making games with deep stories where players' choices matter. They are known for creating hit series like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. They also created their own successful game worlds, known as original intellectual properties, including the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. In 2011, BioWare released its first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Star Wars: The Old Republic, allowing thousands of players to explore the Star Wars universe together.
Contents
History
How BioWare Got Started
BioWare was founded by three friends, Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip, who had just finished medical school at the University of Alberta. They all loved playing video games and had experience with computer programming. Using their own money, they each invested $100,000 to start their own video game company.
Their first game was called Shattered Steel. It was a game about giant fighting robots, similar to the MechWarrior games. They sent a demo to ten different game publishers, and seven of them wanted to work with BioWare. They signed a deal with Interplay Entertainment, and Shattered Steel was released in 1996. The game was a success and was praised for features like being able to destroy the environment with weapons.
The Rise of Role-Playing Games
The founders of BioWare were big fans of role-playing games, both on computers and tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons. For their next project, they created a demo for a new RPG. The publisher, Interplay, suggested they use their official Dungeons & Dragons license. This led to the creation of Baldur's Gate.
Developing Baldur's Gate took three years. During this time, Muzyka and Zeschuk decided to leave their jobs as doctors to focus on making games full-time, while Yip continued his medical career. Baldur's Gate was a huge hit when it was released, selling over two million copies. Its success established BioWare as a top RPG developer.
The 2000s: New Worlds and New Owners
After the success of Baldur's Gate, BioWare made a sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, which also sold two million copies. They also developed MDK2, an action game for PC, Dreamcast, and PlayStation 2. This was BioWare's first time making a game for a console.
The company then created more famous RPGs, including Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Jade Empire. Knights of the Old Republic was especially popular, letting players explore the Star Wars galaxy thousands of years before the movies.
In 2005, BioWare partnered with another studio, Pandemic Studios. Then, in 2007, both studios were bought by Electronic Arts for $775 million. BioWare became part of EA but kept its own name and continued to make its own style of games.
Under EA, BioWare released Mass Effect in 2007, the first game in a new science fiction series. They also created the hit fantasy series Dragon Age, starting with Dragon Age: Origins in 2009.
The 2010s: Big Changes and New Challenges
The 2010s were a busy time for BioWare. They released sequels to their biggest hits, including Mass Effect 2 (2010), Dragon Age II (2011), and Mass Effect 3 (2012). In 2011, they launched the online game Star Wars: The Old Republic.
In 2012, the company's founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, announced they were retiring from the video game industry. This was a major change for BioWare.
The studio continued to work on new games. Dragon Age: Inquisition was released in 2014 and won many "Game of the Year" awards. However, the next game, Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017), received mixed reviews from players and critics. After its release, EA decided to put the Mass Effect series on hold for a while.
In 2019, BioWare released a brand-new game called Anthem, an online multiplayer game where players fly around in powerful exosuits called Javelins. That same year, the company moved its main office to the Epcor Tower in downtown Edmonton.
The 2020s: A Return to Fan Favorites
In 2020, on "N7 Day" (a day to celebrate the Mass Effect series), BioWare announced two exciting projects. The first was Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a remastered collection of the original trilogy, which was released in 2021. The second was the news that a brand-new Mass Effect game was in development.
A teaser trailer for the next Mass Effect was shown at The Game Awards in December 2020, getting fans excited for the future of the series.
The fourth main game in the Dragon Age series, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, was released in October 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from critics. The game was also the first from BioWare to allow players to create a transgender character.
In late 2024, BioWare confirmed that its main focus had shifted to developing the next Mass Effect game. However, in January 2025, EA announced that Veilguard had not sold as well as expected. This led to a downsizing at BioWare, with the studio now having fewer than 100 employees. A small team continues to work on the new Mass Effect.
Game-Making Technology
BioWare has created its own game engines to build its games. A game engine is the basic technology that makes a game run, controlling things like graphics, sound, and gameplay.
- Infinity Engine: Used for 2D games like the Baldur's Gate series.
- Aurora Engine: A more advanced engine that allowed for 3D graphics. It was used for Neverwinter Nights, which came with a toolset that let players create their own adventures.
- Odyssey Engine: An updated version of Aurora, used to create Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. This was the first BioWare engine used for console games.
- Eclipse Engine: Used for Dragon Age: Origins. It also included a toolset for players to create their own content.
- Frostbite Engine: Since 2013, all of BioWare's games, such as Dragon Age: Inquisition and Anthem, have been built using the Frostbite engine, which was created by another EA studio, DICE.
Subsidiaries
BioWare has had several studio locations over the years.
- BioWare Austin: Located in Austin, Texas, this studio was created in 2006 to develop Star Wars: The Old Republic. It now works with the main Edmonton studio on the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series.
Former Studios
Over the years, some BioWare studios have been closed or merged with other companies. These included studios in Montreal, San Francisco, and Fairfax, Virginia.
Games developed
Awards and Recognition
BioWare has won many awards for its games. In 2010, Spike TV named it the "Studio of the Year." The company's founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, were also appointed to the Order of Canada in 2018 for their major contributions to the video game industry.
See also
In Spanish: BioWare para niños
