BioWare Co-Founder Looks at Bringing Back the Studio's Games

BioWare co-founder Trent Oster says he is looking into whether the studio's games can be brought back, and a former creative director has said he wants to take part.

The effort follows an announcement by Electronic Arts that it was closing BioWare and cancelling the next Mass Effect game. Fans responded with a #SaveMassEffect campaign, a hashtag used to rally support online. Oster, who left BioWare in 2009 and went on to found the studio Beamdog, publicly asked former creative director James Ohlen on X to reunite for the cause.

Ohlen replied "Of course!" according to Video Games Chronicle. He also said that a chance to work on Dragon Age again is a dream of his. Ohlen was creative director on Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origins and Neverwinter Nights, so his list of past work covers some of the best-known games the studio made.

Oster said that getting the rights to BioWare's intellectual property, the name, characters and stories a company owns, would be a central part of any revival. Owning those rights is the first step any new team would need, he indicated, before any games could be made.

Money is the other big question. Oster estimated that a AAA Mass Effect game, meaning a large-budget title of the kind made by major publishers, would cost roughly $200 million or more. He based that figure on comparable games from the same level of production.

Asked about the best possible outcome, Oster said he would like to see a BioWare with a clear directive to make the kinds of games the studio became known for. That is a goal, not a plan. No new project, owner or release date has been announced by the people involved.

For players, the story is about whether a studio that many of them grew up with can return in some form. The people who made the earlier games are now talking about it in public, and the fans who started the hashtag are watching closely.