BioWare

COMPANY» Founded 1995-02-01

Edmonton,Alberta,Canada

BioWare is a game company that is currently owned by Electronic Arts (EA). It specializes in making role playing games that usually involve deep and engaging stories.

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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 (Company), and BioWare Austin (Company). The developer has received multiple awards including Spike TV's 2010 Video Game Awards: Studio of the Year.

History

Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk

Bioware is one of the most acclaimed RPG developers in the western world. It was founded in February 1995 by Ray Muzyka (Person), Greg Zeschuk (Person), and Augustine Yip (Person). 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 (Game) for the Xbox (Platform) 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 (Game) and in 2007 by Mass Effect (Game) for the Xbox 360 (Platform). In 2005 Bioware merged with fellow developer Pandemic Studios (Company).

Acquisition by EA

Soon after releasing Mass Effect, Bioware and Pandemicwere purchased by publishing giant Electronic Arts (Company). 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 (Game).

BioWare's first expansion separate from the Edmonton headquarters, BioWare Austin (Company), was created 2006 to make Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game launched in December 2011 as an 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 (Game) and Mass Effect 3 (Game), and are now making the fourth major Mass Effect (Franchise) game.

Engines

Bioware along with developing games, has created several Engines, including the Infinity Engine (Concept), Aurora Engine (Concept), and the Odyssey Engine (Concept). Their latest is the Eclipse Engine (Concept) 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

Game	Platform(s)	Release Date	Genre(s)
Shattered Steel (Game)	DOS, Mac OS	September 30, 1996	Sci-fi mech simulator
Baldur’s Gate	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS	November 30. 1998	RPG
Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS	April 30, 1999	RPG
MDK2	Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, Playstation 2, Wii	Dreamcast - March 21, 2000 Microsoft Windows - May 21, 2000 PlayStation 2 - March 26, 2001 Wii - May 9, 2011	Third-person shooter
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS	September 24, 2000	RPG
Baldur’s Gate II: Throne	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS	June 21, 2001	RPG
Neverwinter Nights	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux	Microsoft Windows - June 18, 2002 Mac OS - August 2003 Linux - June 20, 2003	RPG
Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux	Microsoft Windows - June 21, 2003 Mac OS X - August 2003 Linux - June 30, 2003	RPG
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux	Microsoft Windows - December 2, 2003 Mac OS X - August 2004 Linux - December 17, 2003	RPG
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Xbox	Microsoft Windows - November 19, 2003 Mac OS X - September 7, 2004 Xbox - July 15, 2003 Steam - September 5, 2009 App Store - February 18, 2011	Sci-fi, Fantasy, RPG
Jade Empire (Game)	Microsoft Windows XP, Mac OS X, Xbox, Xbox 360	Microsoft Windows XP - February 26, 2007 Mac OS X - August 18, 2008 Xbox - April 12, 2005 Xbox Originals - July 21, 2008	Action, RPG
Mass Effect (Game)	Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360	Microsoft Windows - May 28, 2008 Xbox 360 - November 16, 2007	RPG
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood	Nintendo DS	September 30, 2008	RPG
Mass Effect: Galaxy (Game)	IOS	June 22, 2009	Action, RPG
Dragon Age: Origins	Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X	Xbox 360 & Microsoft Windows - November 3, 2009 PlayStation 3 - November 3, 2009 Mac OS X - December 21, 2009	RPG
Mass Effect 2 (Game)	Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3	Xbox 360 & Microsoft Windows - January 26, 2010 PlayStation 3 - January 18, 2011	Action, RPG
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening	Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X	March 16, 2010	RPG
Dragon Age II (Game)	Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X	March 8, 2011	RPG
Star Wars: The Old Republic	Microsoft Windows	December 20, 2011	MMORPG
Mass Effect 3 (Game)	Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3	March 6, 2012	Action, RPG
Dragon Age: Inquisition	Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox One	November 18, 2014	Action, RPG
Mass Effect: Andromeda	Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4	March 21, 2017	Action, RPG

Developed Games

View all developed games

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Game)

21 September 2000

Take hold of your destiny as you journey across mysterious lands, encounter many magical creatures and meet many memorable characters in a large fantasy world.

PC​ MAC​ ANDR​ +2

Neverwinter Nights (Game)

18 June 2002

Bioware's epic RPG lets players choose between a noble paladin, a sly rogue, or a powerful mage on a quest to erradicate a plague that's afflicting Neverwinter and to save the world from a powerful foe that is once again on the rise.

PC​ MAC​ NSW​ +4

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (Game)

21 June 2001

You must fight the most powerful spawns of Bhaal that have been plaguing the lands and destroy them for the sake of Tethyr or your own personal gains.

PC​ MAC​ ANDR​ +1

Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (Game)

30 April 1999

Tales of the Sword Coast is the official expansion pack to Baldur's Gate. It includes several new quests, enemies, and spells.

PC​ MAC​ ANDR​ +2

Dragon Age II (Game)

8 March 2011

This sequel to Dragon Age: Origins features faster combat, a new art style, and a brand new, fully voiced main character named Hawke along with more cinematic approach.

PC​ X360​ XBGS​ +1

Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (Game)

2 October 2005

The third expansion for Neverwinter Nights, including new sub-races and three new modules; Kingmaker, Witch's Wake and ShadowGuard.

PC​

Dragon Age: Inquisition (Game)

18 November 2014

Dragon Age: Inquisition is the third installment in the Dragon Age series of role-playing games developed by BioWare.

PC​ X360​ XONE​ +3

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (Game)

16 March 2010

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening is a full retail expansion pack for Dragon Age: Origins.

PC​ MAC​ X360​ +3

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Game)

30 September 2008

BioWare takes Sonic the Hedgehog in a whole new direction with this DS RPG.

NDS​

Anthem (Game)

15 February 2019

A multiplayer-focused third-person action RPG from the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, featuring fully-customizable exo-suits (known as Javelins) with a wide variety of special abilities.

PC​ XONE​ PS4​

Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Game)

31 October 2024

The fourth main installment in the Dragon Age franchise resuming several years after the events of Dragon Age Inquisition, Varric is putting together a team to stop Solas once and for all. Bioware's long-awaited Single-player RPG since 2017's Mass Effect Andromeda

PC​ PS5​ XSX​

Shattered Steel (Game)

31 December 1999

Shattered Steel is an action game released in 1996 by BioWare for MS-DOS, and later ported to Mac OS by now-defunct Logicware. It is notable for being, according to BioWare, the first mech game with deformable terrain effects.

PC​ MAC​

Published Games

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Dragon Age Legends (Game)

18 March 2011

The second Dragon Age flash game developed by EA2D. Was playable on Facebook and Google+ and was the first multi-player game for the Dragon Age franchise. Exists now as a free single-player download.

PC​ BROW​

Dragon Age: The Last Court (Game)

7 November 2014

Set between "Dragon Age II" and "Dragon Age Inquisition", the game follows the ruler of Serault as they prepare to host Divine Justinia.

BROW​

Company details

Name

BioWare

Abbreviation

Founded

1 February 1995

Location

Edmonton,Alberta,Canada

Website

http://www.bioware.com

Aliases

BioWare Edmonton

Developed Games

• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Game)
• Neverwinter Nights (Game)
• Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (Game)
• Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (Game)
• Dragon Age II (Game)
• Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (Game)
• Dragon Age: Inquisition (Game)
• Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (Game)
• Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Game)
• Anthem (Game)
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Game)
• Shattered Steel (Game)
• Next Mass Effect (Working Title) (Game)
• view all →

Published Games

• Dragon Age Legends (Game)
• Dragon Age: The Last Court (Game)
• view all →

Franchises

• Dungeons & Dragons (Franchise)
• Dragon Age (Franchise)
• Mass Effect (Franchise)
• Forgotten Realms (Franchise)
• Baldur's Gate (Franchise)
• Neverwinter Nights (Franchise)
• Star Wars (Franchise)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Franchise)
• Final Fantasy (Franchise)
• Gears of War (Franchise)
• MDK (Franchise)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Franchise)
• Star Wars: Jedi Knight (Franchise)
• Star Wars: Racer (Franchise)
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Franchise)
• Ultima (Franchise)

People

• Brian Bloom (Person)
• Claudia Black (Person)
• David Gaider (Person)
• Inon Zur (Person)
• Jack Wall (Person)
• Jennifer Hale (Person)
• Jo Wyatt (Person)
• Kate Mulgrew (Person)
• Lance Henriksen (Person)
• Michael Hoenig (Person)
• Nicholas Boulton (Person)
• Sam Hulick (Person)
• Adam Howden (Person)
• Alec Newman (Person)
• Ali Hillis (Person)
• Alix Wilton Regan (Person)
• Allen Leech (Person)
• Ash Sroka (Person)
• Brandon Keener (Person)
• Corinne Kempa (Person)

Characters

• Admiral Steven Hackett (Character)
• Alistair (Character)
• Ashley Williams (Character)
• Commander Shepard (Character)
• David Anderson (Character)
• Donnel Udina (Character)
• Edwin Odesseiron (Character)
• Garrus Vakarian (Character)
• Imoen (Character)
• Jaheira (Character)
• Jeff "Joker" Moreau (Character)
• Kaidan Alenko (Character)
• Liara T'soni (Character)
• Minsc (Character)
• Saren Arterius (Character)
• Sparatus (Character)
• Tali'Zorah nar Rayya (Character)
• The Warden (Character)
• Urdnot Wrex (Character)
• Viconia DeVir (Character)

Concepts

• Dialogue Tree (Concept)
• Heads Up Display (Concept)
• Non-Player Character (Concept)
• Scripted Events (Concept)
• Character Creation (Concept)
• Morality System (Concept)
• Human (Concept)
• Inventory (Concept)
• Original Soundtrack Release (Concept)
• Action RPG (Concept)
• Customizable Character (Concept)
• Digital Distribution (Concept)
• Melee (Concept)
• Side Quest (Concept)
• Voice Acting (Concept)
• Artificial Intelligence (Concept)
• Character Class (Concept)
• Experience Points (Concept)
• Loot Gathering (Concept)
• Steam (Concept)

Locations

• Faerûn (Location)
• Space (Location)
• Tavern (Location)
• The Forgotten Realms (Location)
• Shop (Location)
• Thedas (Location)
• City (Location)
• Earth (Location)
• Restaurant (Location)
• The Fade (Location)
• Baldur's Gate (Location)
• Bar (Location)
• Eden Prime (Location)
• Ferelden (Location)
• Space Station (Location)
• Temple (Location)
• The Citadel (Location)
• The Milky Way Galaxy (Location)
• Underground (Location)
• Cave (Location)

Objects

• Sword (Object)
• Armor (Object)
• Door (Object)
• Helmet (Object)
• Crate (Object)
• Grenade (Object)
• Mace (Object)
• Notes (Object)
• Pistol (Object)
• Spaceship (Object)
• War Hammer (Object)
• Book (Object)
• Chain Mail (Object)
• Cloth Armor (Object)
• Crossbow (Object)
• Elevator (Object)
• Gauntlets (Object)
• Gloves (Object)
• Greatsword (Object)
• Gun (Object)