If you play Baldur’s Gate, the very original game that brought back the western RPG by famed game developer BioWare, you might have chosen, like I did, to read all the tombstones.
On one of them is the inscription: “Here lies Tobyn, Who believed in the good of all, Died at the hands of Zombies while asking for directions”. The tombstones refer to different people who worked on that game and this one refers to Tobyn Manthorpe. It’s fitting maybe that the tombstone for one of Tobyn’s first game is about the Zombies that might be wanting to kill him considering his latest project. This episode is an interview with Tobyn Manthorpe, who I spent many years working with at BioWare on his new, independent game Dogs Playing Dead.
When we recorded this episode, we did not know that the week this would air, our former studio, BioWare, would finally close its doors: shut down by its current owner Electronic Arts. See below for a small tribute or listen to the episode!
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BioWare is alive and strong: A small tribute.
This week, BioWare finally closed its doors. After thirty some years, I will be living in a world where there is no building anywhere with that logo and that history. You can scour Reddit and other sites to see debates on whether the end of BioWare could have been prevented. Why, they ask, did BioWare ever even get sold to Electronic Arts. They question whether it was the studio’s fault or Electronic Arts or EA’s new owners.
The truth is, every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Every company, like anything in this world, will eventually go away. To understand the journey you have been on, you must always get to the end of the story and when it is in such a tragic way, there can be sadness, there can be melancholy, and there is always grief. My heart goes out to the individuals who were trying to continue the legacy with the new Mass Effect game. My heart goes out to those who lost their job supporting the studio. These are friends of mine.
But I will leave you also with hope.
BioWare was never just a logo on a wall of a building. BioWare was the sum of all the people who graced its halls. If you ever sit through the credits on a BioWare game, like any modern game, you will see a cast of hundreds. BioWare is the sum of all the people who have been touched by any of the games I or others helped to ship. BioWare is reflected in the people who we influenced to get married, who were helped through dark times, who were left inspired. The BioWare DNA is part of many upcoming games including Casey Hudson’s new game Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic by Arcanaut Studios, and Exodus by Owl Cat Studios. It was even reflected in the ultimate sequel to what BioWare started in Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3.
In this way, BioWare will never die. BioWare will be alive. Always.
For me, I occasionally say or do something and I stop in my tracks. I realize that I just said something or did something that Ray or Greg might have done or said. When I’ve given a rousing speech I sometimes emulate Trent. And I can go on and on, the list of people who have made me who I am and who have changed my life that originated in BioWare would be like one of our game credits: Too long, and scroll far farther than you have time to listen.
I am incredibly lucky that my time at BioWare coincided with its hey day: the days of Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. I am very lucky to have spent time learning from, being mentored by, drinking with, and absorbing the values of some of the most remarkable people I will ever have the pleasure of working with. The BioWare values that we worked so hard on and for, are with us always.
This series of podcasts though will continue to bring stories and interviews with those who I worked with.
BioWare is a story worth telling and it is a story best heard from those who lived it.
Thank you BioWare. I miss you all.
A fan petition to get Mass Effect 5 released is also available!
