After Bloomberg broke the news of BioWare's shutting down at the hands of Electronic Arts, I searched for one of my favorite video game pieces of all time, the fittingly named "An End Once And For All" from Mass Effect 3. The top comment, written by user Lellianna, broke my heart:
"Yes, we are here for the same reason."
As I scrolled down, many more BioWare faithful came to this YouTube video to leave their eulogies, like roses on a digital grave. Some were direct quotes, like user acbagel quoting the Citadel DLC: "Best times of my life were spent on that ship... It's been a damn good ride. The best." Others greeted the moment with dark humor, like M.A.R.Z_316 with "'I should go.' -Bioware, 2026." The more I scrolled, the more users came out of the woodwork to pay homage to the studio they loved.
Multiple videos I searched related to Mass Effect revealed the same thing. A clip of the Citadel DLC ending quoted earlier has a comment from madara992 saying, "Thank you BioWare. For Everything [sic]." An 18-year-old mashup of the four different versions of "Vigil," the song that plays on the title screen of the original Mass Effect now shows TobiTheNomad offer a simple message: "Thank you BioWare…RIP."
Internet forums, as they were once known, are gone. Now, places like YouTube and Reddit serve as the place to get instant, candid reactions like this. Today, they're filled with all five stages of grief.
"My heart is broken for the community and for the folks who worked hard on ME4… to have it all end so unceremoniously absolutely kills me. This is the true 'wrong ending'" says Reddit user Helloyesthisisbat on r/masseffect's megathread about the news. "Keelah Se'lai Bioware" says Ok_Focus1716 on the same thread, quoting the Quarian phrase, "By the homeworld I hope to see one day."
There are a selection of angry comments too, of course, mostly pointed at Electronic Arts. Others acknowledge the studio's troubles long before this closure, while still expressing sadness over the news. Others still are, well, the kind of comments one is warned about when they hear "never read the comments," but they're not worth the time.
What drew me to these comments, I think, is the realization that the commenters and I had the same reaction once we'd heard the news; we turned to the music. BioWare's music has been a calming, soothing force in my life ever since I first heard "Sanctuary" from Jade Empire.
The Mass Effect trilogy, in particular, is bursting with terrific music. I've mentioned An End Once And For All and Vigil, but there's also the action-packed "Suicide Mission" from ME2 and the somber "Leaving Earth" from ME3. Both of those videos have comments saying goodbye too.
Music is but one piece of the pie, though, and I think what endeared me most to BioWare's games was their characters. The three brothers at the center of Jade Empire. HK-47 from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Commander Shepard, Liara T'Soni, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and the rest of the Normandy's crew. Heck, even Marauder Shields. These are creations I can revisit whenever I want, but I'll never know what they've been up to since.
That, to me, is what makes this so sad. I want to revisit these worlds, see these characters again, and have new adventures. I hoped Liara would be the star of the now-cancelled next Mass Effect. I wanted to head back to the Jade Empire someday and pick up where my Spirit Monk left off. Unless some other company swoops in and buys the IP--or if EA is even selling it--these worlds will be locked away forever, consigned to the dustbin of the gaming industry in the interest of shareholder value. What a world we live in now.
This may be the end once and for all for BioWare, but I, and many others, will continue to remember the studio through its games. Every time we boot one up, we will hold vigil.