BioWare is a Canadian video game company located in Edmonton, Alberta. It was started in 1995 by recently graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. Since 2007, the company has been owned by the American publisher Electronic Arts.

BioWare focuses on creating role-playing video games. It gained fame for developing well-received and popular licensed games, including Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Later, the company created other successful games with original stories, such as Jade Empire, the Mass Effect series, and the Dragon Age series. In 2011, BioWare introduced its first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Star Wars: The Old Republic.

History

BioWare was founded by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. At the time, Muzyka, Zeschuk, and Yip had recently graduated from medical school at the University of Alberta and had experience with programming for school projects. Together, they created a medical simulation program. They also enjoyed playing video games and decided to make their own. Their success in the medical field helped them raise money to start a video game company. Each person contributed $100,000 Canadian dollars, totaling $300,000. The company was officially registered on February 1, 1995, and officially launched on May 22, 1995.

Their first game, Shattered Steel, began as a sample game to show their idea, similar to the MechWarrior series. This sample was sent to ten publishers, and seven offered to work with them. A publishing deal for Shattered Steel was signed with Interplay Entertainment. Brent Oster and Trent Oster started Pyrotek Studios to continue developing Shattered Steel, but the studio ended after one year. Trent joined BioWare as an early employee to finish the game. Shattered Steel was released the following year. IGN described the game as a "modest success" with "decent sales." Two notable features were deformable terrain (player weapons made craters in the environment) and zone damage (well-aimed gunfire could destroy enemy weapons). A sequel to Shattered Steel was planned for 1998 but was not completed.

BioWare’s founders and staff were interested in both computer and pen-and-paper role-playing games. Their next project was a role-playing game. When Interplay funded "exploratory development," BioWare created a demo called Battleground: Infinity. Interplay suggested that the game’s system would work well with the Dungeons & Dragons license it had acquired. Infinity was then adapted to match Dungeons & Dragons rules.

The result was Baldur's Gate, which took three years to develop. During this time, the three doctors continued their medical work. Later, Muzyka and Zeschuk left medicine to focus fully on game development, while Yip continued his medical career. Baldur's Gate sold more than two million copies, nearly matching the sales of Diablo. The Infinity Engine used for Baldur's Gate was later used for Planescape: Torment and the Icewind Dale series. An expansion pack for Baldur's Gate, called Tales of the Sword Coast, was also released.

At this point, BioWare decided to return to action games. They first considered making a sequel to Shattered Steel, but instead chose to develop a sequel to MDK from Shiny Entertainment. MDK2 was released on PC, Dreamcast, and PlayStation 2, giving BioWare their first experience making games for consoles. MDK2 received praise similar to its predecessor, but BioWare returned to the Baldur's Gate series for their next project.

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was released in 2000, two years after Baldur's Gate. Baldur's Gate II sold two million copies, matching the sales of the first game in the series. However, the success of Baldur's Gate II and MDK2 was not enough to help Interplay financially. BioWare then worked with Infogrames, later renamed Atari. Neverwinter Nights was originally planned for Interplay, but Atari gained the license, and part of the Dungeons & Dragons license was given to BioWare. After selling the Dungeons & Dragons license to Atari, BioWare developed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. BioWare had publishing relationships with Interplay Entertainment, Infogrames (now Atari), LucasArts, and Microsoft.

In the following years, BioWare experienced several changes. In November 2005, BioWare and Pandemic Studios (founded by former Activision employees) joined forces, with Elevation Partners investing in the new company, VG Holding Corp. On October 11, 2007, VG Holding Corp. was bought by Electronic Arts for $775 million (equivalent to $1.2 billion in 2025). BioWare became part of EA but kept its own branding.

In 2007, BioWare released the science fiction role-playing game Mass Effect. The next year, they released Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood for the Nintendo DS, their first handheld game. Later, EA announced that BioWare would merge with Mythic Entertainment, which would be renamed BioWare Mythic.

In 2008, the growth of the MMORPG group within Electronic Arts led to three new studios being added to the BioWare group outside Edmonton. The first, in Austin, Texas, was led by Gordon Walton and Richard Vogel and worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic. A second studio opened in Montreal, Quebec, in 2009 to help with projects.

During the mid-2000s, BioWare worked on several projects that were eventually canceled. A handheld spin-off for the Mass Effect franchise, Mass Effect: Corsair, was briefly considered for the Nintendo DS in 2008. A sequel to Jade Empire was planned but later became a spiritual successor called Revolver, which was canceled by 2008. Trent Oster led a team working on a spy-themed game called Agent, but the project was canceled when he left BioWare in 2009. Unused art from Agent and Revolver was included in the art book BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development, published in 2021.

On June 24, 2009, Electronic Arts reorganized its role-playing and MMORPG development into a new group that included BioWare and Mythic Entertainment. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare, became the general manager of this new group. Greg Zeschuk became the Group Creative Officer for the MMORPG studio group. BioWare’s studios remained unchanged and continued to report to Muzyka. Near the end of 2009, BioWare released the critically acclaimed fantasy role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins.

In January 2010, BioWare released Mass Effect 2, a sequel to Mass Effect, which received critical acclaim and many awards

Technology

Between 1998 and 2011, BioWare created several video game engines to support the development of their games. Some of these engines were shared with other companies to help them make their own games. Others included tools that allowed fans to create new adventures using the same technology found in BioWare’s games.

BioWare designed the Infinity Engine to build the Baldur's Gate series (1998–2001), which were 2D role-playing games based on Dungeons & Dragons. This engine was also used by Black Isle Studios to create Planescape: Torment (1999) and the Icewind Dale series (2000–2002). In 2012, Beamdog received permission from BioWare to improve these games. They updated the Infinity Engine, calling it the "Infinity Enhanced Engine" (or "Infinity Plus Engine" or "Infinity Bless Engine").

The Aurora Engine replaced the Infinity Engine. It featured 3D environments, real-time lighting and shadows, and surround sound. BioWare used the Aurora Engine to make Neverwinter Nights (2002) and its expansions. The game included the Aurora toolset, which gave users tools to create their own digital adventures for single-player or online multiplayer. This toolset became very popular, with over 1,000 fan-made modules created within six months of its release. Obsidian Entertainment, which took over from Black Isle Studios, used an updated version of the Aurora Engine called the "Electron Engine" to make Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006) and its expansions (2007–2009). The Electron toolset was also included with the game. CD Projekt Red, a Polish studio, used the Aurora Engine to create The Witcher (2007), a video game based on a Polish fantasy novel series, though they rewrote the engine’s rendering system.

BioWare used an updated version of the Aurora Engine, called the Odyssey Engine, to develop Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003) and Jade Empire (2005), which was BioWare’s first original intellectual property role-playing game. The Odyssey Engine was the first BioWare engine to support video game consoles, with both Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire originally released for the Xbox before being made available on PC. Obsidian Entertainment used the Odyssey Engine to create Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004), a sequel to the original game. BioWare had limited control over Obsidian’s development of The Sith Lords and Neverwinter Nights 2.

The Eclipse Engine replaced the Odyssey Engine and supported PhysX hardware acceleration. It was used to make Dragon Age: Origins (2009) and its expansion, Awakening (2010). Like Neverwinter Nights, Origins was released with a toolset to let players create their own adventure modules using the Eclipse Engine. An upgraded version of the Eclipse Engine, called the Lycium Engine, was used to make Dragon Age II (2011).

In September 2004, BioWare received permission from Epic Games to use Unreal Engine 3. This engine was later used to develop the original Mass Effect trilogy (2007–2012) and the remastered Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (2021).

In 2013, EA announced that all future BioWare games would be made using DICE’s Frostbite engine. All BioWare games released after this announcement, including Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, were developed using Frostbite 3 as part of a plan to use shared technology across all Electronic Arts studios.

Subsidiaries

• BioWare Austin in Austin, Texas: Created in March 2006 to make Star Wars: The Old Republic with help from BioWare Edmonton. Later, the studio began working on a new game called Shadow Realms, but this project was put on hold in February 2015 to focus on continuing work on Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Old Republic. On June 27, 2023, BioWare announced that the Austin branch gave responsibility for SWTOR to Broadsword Online Games so the team could work on the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games with the Edmonton studio.

• BioWare Montreal in Montreal, Quebec: Established in March 2009 to support the Edmonton studio when needed. The studio led the creation of downloadable content for the Mass Effect series and also developed Mass Effect: Andromeda. In August 2017, BioWare Montreal was combined with EA's Motive Studio.

• BioWare San Francisco in San Francisco, California: Founded as EA2D, the studio made Mirror's Edge 2D and Dragon Age: Legends. It later became part of BioWare but was closed in February 2013.

• BioWare Mythic in Fairfax, Virginia: Originally called Mythic Entertainment until June 2009, it was renamed Mythic Entertainment again in November 2012. The studio closed completely in 2014.

• Victory Games in Los Angeles, California: Started in February 2011 as BioWare Victory to create the 2013 Command & Conquer game. The studio stopped using the BioWare name in November 2012 but remained part of the BioWare group. It ended operations in October 2013.

• Waystone Games in Los Angeles, California: The developer of Dawngate, a game that was cancelled in November 2014.

• BioWare Sacramento in Sacramento, California: Founded as KlickNation in 2008, it was acquired and renamed BioWare Sacramento in 2011. In 2014, the studio was renamed EA Capital Games.

Awards and recognition

The complete list of awards is available on the company's website.

• Spike TV's 2010 Video Game Awards: Studio of the Year (2010)
• Hall of Fame induction (2010)

In addition to receiving many game awards, in October 2008, the company was named one of Alberta's Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc. This recognition was announced by the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton Journal.

In December 2018, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were named members of the Order of Canada. This honor recognized their revolutionary contributions to the video game industry as a developer and co-founder of an internationally renowned studio.