bioware

BioWare Confirms Layoffs as Star Wars: The Old Republic Shifts to New Studio, Promises Bright Future

Is BioWare on a Steady Decline

BioWare has confirmed that a number of team members will lose their jobs following the decision to shift the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic to a third-party studio, Broadsword Online Games. Gary McKay, the general manager of BioWare, communicated this in a post on the BioWare website, acknowledging that this was the toughest part of the transition and ensuring that affected employees will be supported and given opportunities to find new roles within EA​. This move comes as part of a larger strategy by BioWare to concentrate resources on the development of new Mass Effect and Dragon Age titles. The transition is seen as necessary to allow BioWare to focus on these key franchises, with teams primarily based in Austin and Edmonton continuing their work on creating immersive, emotionally charged single-player games​​. Star Wars: The Old Republic, a free-to-play MMO, has enjoyed significant success since its launch almost…

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Star Wars: The Old Republic to Transition from BioWare to Broadsword Online Games

Star Wars: The Old Republic to Transition from BioWare to Broadsword Online Games

In a significant shake-up within the gaming world, BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic is reportedly being handed over to third-party studio Broadsword Online Games. This shift comes as BioWare, acclaimed for its single-player RPGs such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect, refocuses its resources on these flagship franchises. EA is said to be on the brink of finalizing an agreement with Broadsword Online Games, a studio known for its expertise in online, community-driven experiences and currently managing legacy MMORPGs like Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot. Under the agreement, the development and operation of Star Wars: The Old Republic would transition from BioWare to Broadsword​​. The Old Republic’s core development team, currently consisting of 70 to 80 individuals, is expected to undergo significant changes. More than half of the team will reportedly move to Broadsword, while the remaining members will have the opportunity to seek other roles within…

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State of BioWare and Looking Ahead.

Studio General Manager at BioWare Gary McKay, posted a new blogpost were he share some thoughts and plans for the future. Most information is about how hard the global pandemic has been on the company, but there is some tidbits about Star Wars: The old republic worh mentioning: So as challenging as things have been, we have a lot of really exciting things to look forward to — especially our upcoming releases! First off, I’m excited to launch Legacy of the Sith, the latest expansion for Star Wars®: The Old Republic™, on February 15. We’re on the doorstep of a new expansion that will see the players with more combat style choices, a new storyline that returns you to the underwater depths of Manaan and the ruined Sith fortress on the planet Elom, and so much more! It all starts in February, and we’ll have more updates throughout the year. We are extremely…

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SWTOR Account Subscription Issues Fix, Refunds, and Support

Many SWTOR players have been running into some issues with the game lately. My son actually downloaded it to play again this week and ran into a couple of these bugs. If you’re having problems, know that it’s not just you and help is available. If you’re seeing any of these errors on swtor.com: You are not alone. There have been some buggy issues impacting SWTOR lately. If you have subscription-related issues: Post in this thread. Please provide your swtor username when posting. If your Credentials are incorrect error: If you’re seeing any of these errors: Here’s how to fix it: Head here to reset your password, or follow the steps below. If that doesn’t clear up the error for you, try resetting your password on swtor.com. What if I don’t have access to that email address anymore? Contact SWTOR support for help with updating your account email address. If you’re…

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Is BioWare on a Steady Decline?

Is BioWare on a Steady Decline

BioWare has a long history in gaming as we know it today. They carry claims to fame like Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic. They have been a staple in the gaming community for a very long time. Some of your favorite titles have probably been from BioWare (I know mine have), but will this last? Can we count on BioWare to keep giving us blockbusters that change our lives and melt our hearts? Can we keep expecting fabulous, monumental, memorable games? Or are there days numbered? However, in the past ten years, there have been some big changes for BioWare – the same as there has been in the gaming industry in general. Now we have a new release – Anthem – and for many, it is definitely a disappointment. Kat Bailey, from US Gamer has a few theories on why this happened, and how it’s been…

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Star Wars: EA Reportedly Will Not Let BioWare Make KOTOR Games

Star Wars EA Reportedly Will Not Let BioWare Make KOTOR Games

How long have KOTOR fans been talking about a new game? Over the years, we’ve heard a lot of talk of BioWare making a new KOTOR game the fans would love to see it happen. But now, EA has the contract on all Star Wars games and it doesn’t seem like its in the cards. BioWare has supposedly asked EA multiple times for permission to make a new KOTOR game. “They’ve tried to make it happen, more than once from what I’ve heard,” says Kotaku’s Jason Schreier on Twitter in response to a question about BioWare making another KOTOR game. “No luck.” Ugh, shot down again! That seems to be par for the course when it comes to a new KOTOR, but is there more to this tweet? There’s a story on DenofGeek about it that breaks it all down for us. “On its own, there’s not much information there, but there is more…

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James Ohlen is leaving BioWare

James Ohlen tweeted that he is leaving BioWare to pursue personal endeavors After 22 years I have retired from BioWare. I’ve loved my time with Anthem, Star Wars, Dragon Age and Dungeons and Dragons. But I need to take a break from the industry and work on something a little smaller and more personal. — James Ohlen (@JamesOhlen) July 12, 2018 James Ohlen is one of the main reasons that kotor and dragon age origins were so great. He is a hardcore DnD/RPG fan. It Seems like the pressure of anthem is hitting a lot of people at BioWare. Its almost a shame that BioWare got so popular and then bought out by EA. Their original games with a heavy focus on rpg elements is what made them great. They lost their touch as they were forced to make more “modern” titles leading to generic game play and less RPG elements….

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Is BioWare Rebooting KOTOR?

There are few Star Wars games (if any) acclaimed as high as KOTOR. Knights of the Old Republic is a huge favorite in the Star Wars gaming scene and for good reason. It was an excellent game, beautifully designed, with a wonderful story. Players have been wanting a new KOTOR game for a long time now. We hear of a rumor that says BioWare might actually be working on exactly that! The rumor originates with gaming journalist Liam Robertson, who discussed the topic recently on his Patreon page. He doesn’t cite his sources which makes this hearsay but it’s an interesting enough rumor that we’ll go ahead and pass it on to you. Again, this is JUST rumor at this point and we can’t do more than speculate but with how much everyone wants to see a new KOTOR game, it can be fun to speculate that this rumor is true. Here’s…

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BioWare Says the MMO Market Has Never Been Bigger

Are people still playing MMOs? The director of Star Wars: The Old Republic insists that the MMO market has never been bigger. While some of the biggest hitters in the industry, like Blizz’s World of Warcraft, are seeing declining numbers, James Ohlen says it’s a good time to be in the MMO business. “The MMO genre is much bigger than it ever has been before – it’s just that people misunderstand what the genre actually consists of now,” James Ohlen said in an interview with MCV. He goes on to talk about how people once thought MMOs were just for hardcore PC games but the genre has expanded. We see MMO games that don’t call themselves that in the traditional sense. We also see MMOs on different platforms, which wasn’t so common in the past. When you look at things from this perspective, it’s easy to see why one would say the MMO…

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Bioware Closing All Forums Except SWTOR

In a big announcement yesterday, Bioware said they are shutting down nearly all of their forums. Everything except the SWTOR forums will go. It’s explained in this post on their site by Conal Pierse. Here’s a part of that post: “After great consideration, we are closing down the BioWare forums, effective August 26, 2016. The Star Wars: The Old Republic forums will continue to operate; however, our public boards for Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and legacy BioWare titles will no longer be available. This wasn’t an easy decision. Our players are important to us. Your feedback, stories, and love for our games drive and inspire us. In the past, our forums were the only way we could speak to you directly. They allowed our developers to talk with fans, and gave our players the opportunity to talk with each other about our games. But with the rise of social media and…

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SWTOR 5-YEAR COLLAGE PROJECT

The team over at Bioware Austin want players to submit  a close-up headshot of your in-game character: To celebrate over 87 MILLION unique characters created by all of you, we’ll be creating our first ever SWTOR Character Collage! Sample Headshot Join the celebration by emailing us a close-up headshot of your in-game character: Recommended resolution is 1920×1080 Turn off all user interface and text Focus on the waist up Remain in your default pose We can’t wait to share the collage with you. Stay tuned for more details!

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Claudia Adams-Esgrow Former Social Advisor for Bioware Passes Away

The game industry suffered a sad and unexpected loss this month. EA social advisor Claudia Adams-Esgrow has passed away. Claudia’s wife, Julia Adams-Esgrow, shared the news in a post on Facebook, Claudia and Julia had only been married a few weeks prior. Claudia started out as an in-game support representative for Blizzard (World of Warcraft) but worked on several games throughout her career, including Star Wars The Old Republic, where she helped manage the community. She even had a stint at Trion Worlds. We’re written about the importance of community management here quite often and as someone who has experience in that field, I tend to take these kinds of roles and the people who fill them, personally. Claudia worked hard for SWTOR and the fans and she was an all-around great person. Described by friends and family as a great food lover and a passionate political activist, she was someone who cared about…

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SWTOR Class Changes Coming with Patch 4.5

BioWare will be making a long list of class changes in SWTOR with Game update 4.5 coming in next month. Hey folks, Below you will find the current list of Class changes which are coming with Game Update 4.5. These changes will not be going on PTS so we wanted to give you a heads up on what was coming. Please feel free to read over the changes and provide your feedback in this thread, I will pass it on to the Combat team. Sith Inquisitor Sorcerer Dark Heal now has a base cost of 70 Force (up from 55 Force) and heals for slightly more (.49%). Resurgence now has a base cost of 40 Force (up from 30 Force) and heals for a bit more (4.94% for the instant heal, and 3.70% for the heal over time.). Static Barrier now has a base cost of 45 Force (up from…

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Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Bioware Story (Documentary)

We talk a lot about SWTOR here. The entire site was built upon it back in our early days as we awaited the release of the game. So it’s fun then to see things like this short documentary about the making of SWTOR. This BioWare Story from Complex introduces us to the brains behind the game. We hear from the directors, writers and other key players of BioWare’s SWTOR team and they tell us about how they were first interested in Star Wars and what impact it had on their world. This then, helps us to see the impact this had on SWTOR. There’s a nod to Knights of the Old Republic, then they explain how they go in their own direction from SWTOR. Some of this might be info you already knew if you’re a big nerd who followed this game from the beginning but other parts will definitely…

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“True Stories of BioWare Heartbreak” Will Give You the Feels

There is one thing BioWare is very well known for: their great storytelling. We’re talking about the kinds of stories that really make you feel. If you’ve ever played a BioWare game, you know just how easy it is to get emotionally invested. For some people, it’s books. For some, it’s movies or television shows. But for some of us, it’s a great video game with an emotion-filled story. This is what makes an excellent game stand out from an ordinary game. This is what defines the game for a lot of people. When you want to get lost in the story and feel like you are your character, this is the kind of feeling we’re talking about. Not all games can do that. Of course, the non-story-based games have their place too. Some gamers enjoy both. But when a game’s story reels you in and makes you feel like…

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BioWare’s Next IP Was Hiding in Plain Sight: On a T-shirt

Bioware’s Alistair McNally had an interesting tweet this week after the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Diego last week. He says he wore a t-shirt to the conference that referenced Bioware’s new IP and it appears no one even noticed. Sneaky! Also it was fun to walk around GDC2016 in a t-shirt with our new IP on it and no one batted an eyelid. — Alistair McNally (@Al_McNally) March 18, 2016 So of course, this got the Twitterverse in a tizzy as people realized their miss and some frantically searched for pictures from the event to try to see this shirt in action. There have been articles written about it, forum threads posted on it, social media dialogue and even debate over it, but still we don’t know what the new game is, or what was on his shirt. And it looks like we might be waiting awhile for…

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How BioWare Makes Use of Livestreamers for SWTOR

You might remember when BioWare was promoting KotFE that they brought in several well known live streamers and live video people to help promote the new expansion. They had YouTube content creators as well as popular Twitch streamers talk about SWTOR to their own fanbase. They also seemed to talk to outside streamers from other games about trying SWTOR and also introducing it to their audiences. It’s not a bad strategy, honestly. It’s something that most companies will do in a time like this but some will say it failed for BioWare in this scenario. It doesn’t look like it paid off how BioWare would have hoped because they aren’t using that tactic anymore. It’s common practice for companies to experiment with different marketing tactics to see what works and this wasn’t a bad idea in theory. I work in marketing and I know the power behind brand ambassadors and…

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Curious How BioWare Created SWTOR Classes?

If you’ve ever wanted to know how BioWare created the SWTOR classes, you’re in luck. There is a special guest post series on StarWars.com from SWTOR lead designer, Michael Backus that tells you all about it. You can see Part 1 here, which talks about the Republic. Blakus has been on the SWTOR team for seven years now and if you’ve ever had any interaction with him, you know that he is really passionate about what he does and it shows. So it’s great to see that he is the one doing this guest post series because I’m sure it’s going to be good. Here’s a snippet from part 1: “So I’m going to do just that. I’m going to talk about the different classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic, but more importantly, about each class’s story arc. And by this, I don’t mean spoilers about their plots, but really, what…

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BioWare is Hiring for a New Game

BioWare is putting out the call once again for a new IP. Could it be a new MMO? We don’t know for sure yet but it is exciting news. It’s always great news when BioWare is planning a new game but from the sound of this one, it might be an MMO which would be good for fans. Here is what the job listing had to say about this particular project. The job description says, “BioWare is seeking a qualified Senior Lead Server Engineer for a new, unannounced BioWare IP. This role will direct a team of software engineers to create the backend systems that will drive online play for this exciting new game. The successful candidate will have expert knowledge of and experience in the design, implementation, and continuing support of large scale real-time client/server applications using primarily C++. Extensive experience with and knowledge of multi-tier client/server architectures as…

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Drew Karpyshyn Returns to Star Wars: The Old Republic!

I can honestly say I never thought I’d be writing this post after Drew left SWTOR but he has recently posted some very big news on his blog. In true Drew fashion, he packed THREE big updates in this one post and if you don’t follow him or managed to miss this, here is the part you might be most interested in: Speaking of full circle, here’s the second piece of big news: as of this past week, I am back working at BioWare again! For those who don’t know, I spent over a decade with BioWare working on many award winning and fan-beloved games like Mass Effect 1&2, Knights of the Old Republic and the Star Wars: The Old Republic Online MMO. A few years ago I left BioWare to focus on my Chaos Born novels, but now that the trilogy is finished, I’ve decided to come back into the…

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Star Wars the Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire Reactions

As you know, fans of SWTOR are excited for Knights of the Fallen Empire, present company included. It’s definitely time for something new and exciting to the game and we think this expansion is going to bring a lot of that. In fact, we expect it to also bring in new players as well as old players who have quit and decide to return. Of course, that is one of the purposes of a video game expansion and it’s an important part of a good game marketing strategy but that doesn’t mean it’s always effective or executed correctly. This time, we think Bioware has really put the right talent, time and attention into this expansion. Carbonite time skip, new story, new gear, new options… there is a lot to immerse yourself in with this one and people who play Bioware RPGs are most often looking for that story. They want…

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Announcing Knights of the Fallen Empire [Official] and Trailer

While news leaked out early about the new expansion, official word came today from SWTOR.com. As always, we’re here to bring you updates as we see them  and we were anxiously awaiting the trailer (scroll down to see for yourself). We are happy to announce our brand new digital expansion: Knights of the Fallen Empire! Knights of the Fallen Empire marks a renewed focus on BioWare-style cinematic storytelling in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Your character will become the Outlander, a veteran of the Great Galactic War who comes face-to-face with a new threat to the galaxy: the Emperor of the Eternal Throne. This expansion also raises the Level cap to 65, and includes the option to create a Level 60 character! This allows you to start fresh in Knights of the Fallen Empire and jump right into the new story content. We are also delivering this story content in…

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SWTOR Knights of the Fallen Empire LEAK

For a brief time, SWTOR.com accidentally displayed a page that was not meant to be shown yet. Be warned that the information  you are about to read and see might contain spoilers. For those still interested in reading, we introduce you to Knights of the Fallen Empire! “A man can have anything if he’s willing to sacrifice everything.” A new expansion is coming to SWTOR and this just might be the thing to revive the existing player base and bring old players back to the game once more. A third faction emerges and we will see some new content, new story arcs and much more. Beginning on October 27th, you will have access (free to all subscribers) to The Outlander, a vet of the Great Galactic War. You can experience a new player-driven story arc from the Bioware team. Knights of the Fallen Empire will feature Here is a screencap…

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BioWare Writer Talks Gay Romances and Sexual Diversity in Gaming

BioWare’s lead writer and developer for Mass Effect and Dragon Age, David Gaider, has decided to address the popular topic of sexual diversity in video games. Gaider is a 16-year veteran of the RPG studio and he recently wrote for Dragon Age: Inquisition. He began his interview by going over his reaction after he learned that BioWare’s 2005 RPG Jade Empire would allow gamers to have gay romances. “I remember hearing about when they made that decision to put it in and I was floored,” Gaider told Video Game Sophistry. “I mean, I’m gay myself, so I felt it kind of odd when I heard about it, how shocked I was because I just never thought that part of my life had a role to play in work. Like I said, it just wasn’t done. I didn’t even really consider the idea, so when they made that decision it was…

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