Super Channel Commissions Documentary on BioWare's Final Days
Canada's Super Channel has commissioned a documentary about the final days of BioWare, the video game studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age. The film, Massive Effect: The BioWare Story, is scheduled for release in 2027, according to the film's official website.
The documentary comes from Shane Fennessey and Adam Scorgie for Super Channel. Akash Sherman wrote and directed it. It is co-produced by Fennessey Films and Score G Productions, a documentary studio based in Edmonton. The Canada Media Fund, a public fund that supports Canadian film and television, also backed its production.
Filming began two years before Electronic Arts announced the closure of BioWare on October 21. EA shut the studio after recent releases underperformed, cutting 400 jobs, according to Deadline. The film's crew was therefore working with the studio for a long stretch before its end was announced.
BioWare was founded in 1995 by medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip. The studio sold 100 million copies of its role-playing games, in which players take on a character and shape the story. Among its titles are Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate.
The founders will appear in the film, along with Douglas Reilly, John Riccitiello, Casey Hudson, Geoff Keighley, Victor Lucas and Jennifer Hale. Longtime BioWare developers Mark Darrah, David Gaider, Drew Karpyshyn, Aaryn Flynn, Mac Walters, Trent Oster, James Ohlen and Caroline Livingstone are also featured.
Jhod Cardinal of Upstream Flix is handling worldwide sales, which means offering the film to broadcasters and platforms in other countries. The film is planned for a major film festival run and a world premiere next year. A world premiere is the first public screening of a film.
For fans of the games, the documentary offers a look at the studio's last chapter through the people who made it. For the developers on camera, it is a chance to tell that story in their own words.
