Massive Effect: The BioWare Story started filming two years before EA shut down the studio.
BioWare is no more after Electronic Arts shut down the storied studio last month. As it turns out, a film crew documented the studio’s final act. A documentary called Massive Effect: The BioWare Story is in the works, as Deadline reported, and it’s expected to arrive next year. Filming started two years before BioWare shut down.
The documentary — which Canada’s Super Channel commissioned — will cover “the story of how a group of underdogs from the Alberta prairies built one of the most beloved studios in gaming, told by the people who were there,” producer Shane Fennessey said in a statement on X. “Now, with the shocking news of the studio’s closure, we carry the responsibility of telling how the story ends.”
https://x.com/ShaneFen/status/2118374422897987750
The movie will cover the 31-year history of BioWare, with founders Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip all making appearances. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect director Casey Hudson will feature, along with FemShep voice actor Jennifer Hale, former EA CEO John Riccitiello, several BioWare developers and other figures from the gaming world.
BioWare fans have a chance to feature in the film, as the team behind it has set up a website where they can share photos, videos, cosplay, fan art and other memories about the studio. Fans have also been campaigning to save Mass Effect, including by petitioning the Canadian government to help former BioWare workers buy the studio.
EA, which is now owned primarily by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, shuttered BioWare after its last few games failed to meet the company’s sales expectations. The studio, which had around 50 workers after previous cuts, was in the early stages of making the next Mass Effect game — a trailer for which leaked after EA announced BioWare’s demise. Bloomberg reported that, rather than fund the full development of Mass Effect 5, EA opted to put its resources into making Star Wars Battlefront 3, which has not been formally revealed.
