BioWare

Overview

BioWare is a Canadian development studio owned by Electronic Arts. It is most famous for its highly praised role-playing games including Baldur's Gate and the Mass Effect series. There are currently three studios using the BioWare name: BioWare Edmonton, BioWare Montreal, and BioWare Austin. The developer has received multiple awards including Spike TV's 2010 Video Game Awards: Studio of the Year.

History

Bioware is one of the most acclaimed RPG developers in the western world. It was founded in February 1995 by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. Zeschuk and Muzyka previously completed medical degrees at the University of Alberta. Zeschuk has recently finished his MBA at Queen's School of Business. Yip left the company in 1997 to return to medicine, but Zeschuk and Muzyka remained and still acted as heads of the studio untill they left the company in 2012.

Bioware is famous for such Dungeon and Dragons inspired games as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. The company originally developed games exclusively for the PC platform, but In 2003 the company released Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic for the Xbox in collaboration with LucasArts. This game was the first of several games that Bioware would develop for Microsoft's consoles. It was followed in 2004 by Jade Empire and in 2007 by Mass Effect for the Xbox 360. In 2005 Bioware merged with fellow developer Pandemic Studios.

Acquisition by EA

Soon after releasing Mass Effect, Bioware and Pandemic were purchased by publishing giant Electronic Arts. Ray Muzyka became a general manager and senior vice president at Electronic Arts after he and Zeschuk sold the company. Their first multi-platform release with EA was Dragon Age: Origins in Nov. 2009, dubbed a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series. Less than three months later, they released the award winning Mass Effect 2.

BioWare's first expansion separate from the Edmonton headquarters, BioWare Austin, was created 2006 to make Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game launched in December 2011 as an MMORPG with a payed subscription model. The Old Republic has since adopted a free-to-play model and remains in continuous development.

On Mar. 2, 2009 BioWare announced another new studio, this time in Montreal. BioWare Montreal worked on parts of Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, and are now making the fourth major Mass Effect game.

Engines

Bioware along with developing games, has created several Engines, including the Infinity Engine, Aurora Engine, and the Odyssey Engine. Their latest is the Eclipse Engine that powers the Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2.

The first three Mass Effect games used the Unreal 3 engine. Dragon Age: Inquisition and the fourth Mass Effect game use Dice's Frostbite 3.

Awards

• In 2010, co-founders Ray Muzyka & Greg Zeschuk were inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.
• BioWare were awarded in the "Best Studio" category at Spike VGA 2010.

Games