It feels like every single week for the past few years has been the infinitely quotable 30 Rock quote on repeat. That feeling struck particularly last month when EA decided to shut down the iconic Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare. That obviously resulted in the cancellation of Mass Effect 5, of which a leaked trailer and some, now former, devs made sound pretty interesting. But hey! At least there’s a documentary coming next year all about the studio that managed to capture the studio’s last days! Yeah, I’m not so convinced by this upside either.
As reported by Deadline, Shane Fennessey and Adam Scorgie will be helming a documentary about the beloved RPG studio for Canada’s Super Channel. It’s called, punnily enough, Massive Effect: The BioWare Story, and will apparently take a look at its origins in 1995 all the way up to its closure and a bit beyond, planned for release in 2027. Filming began two years ago, so clearly this was meant to be much more of a celebratory project than the funeral procession it’s going to be.
Some big names from BioWare’s history will be appearing in the doc, including its founders Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside the likes of longtime devs like Mark Darrah, David Gaider, Drew Karpyshyn, Aaryn Flynn, Mac Walters, Trent Oster, James Ohlen and Caroline Livingstone. You can also expect appearances from Jennifer Hale, Casey Hudson and, as if his sole goal is to haunt this industry everywhere, Geoff Keighley.
In a statement, co-founders Muzyka and Zeschuk said, “When the production team asked for our blessing to tell the BioWare story, we were honored and deeply moved. BioWare was never just about the logo or the building. It was about the stories brought to life by the amazing people on our dev teams, and the fans who defended those worlds, championed them and carried them forward. We’re proud this film honors those who made it all possible. The best stories never really end. They live on in our memories and wait for someone to pick them up again.”
Obviously the documentary won’t only be about the studio’s closure, it sounds like a much bigger effort than that, so hopefully it will be a way to recognise how much of an influence BioWare has had on RPGs. It’s just a ridiculous shame that it’s something of a posthumous release. Continued solidarity with all those at BioWare.