After the not so welcome reception that Mass Effect: Andromeda got at launch, the Bioware Montreal studio’s troubles have only gotten worse. Back in May the studio was scaled down and put in a “support role”, with a majority of its employees moved to work at EA Motive. Now it turns out that the entire Bioware Montreal studio responsible for Mass Effect: Andromeda has been shifted over to Motive ion order to help with Jade Raymond’s new game. This is effective shutting down of the Montreal studio that had made both the last Mass Effect and Dragon Age game.
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EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said “We’re building out a new studio in Montreal, as we’ve told everyone. And we’ve hired over 100 people into that studio that are brand-new to EA. This is to build the new IP around Jade Raymond’s team that she’s been building. It’s a wonderful new addition to our team. And we brought our BioWare Montreal team into that same facility. So they now all sit in one new studio together.”
EA Motive is currently being led by Jade Raymond of Assassin’s Creed fame, and currently working on Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and another Star Wars game.
EA has called this a merger between the two studios, but this goes directly against what Bioware Montreal states on their website: BioWare Montreal was built from the ground up to be a standalone studio.
“The teams in EA Worldwide Studios are packed with talent, and more than ever, we’re driving collaboration between studios on key projects. With multiple major projects in development in Montreal, we are merging BioWare Montreal with Motive Studios. This is an ongoing process, but there are many exciting roles and opportunities for everyone on the team,” EA said.
“BioWare continues its work on new titles – including the highly-anticipated game, Anthem. What’s coming next for BioWare is very exciting, and we’re thrilled to have Casey Hudson returning to lead the studios in Edmonton and Austin.”
It was also previously revealed that Mass Effect: Andromeda will not be getting any future DLC, even though the game strongly hints at it towards the end. Multiplayer support is still active, though the same may not be said for the player base.
This poses an interesting question for the future of both Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Hopefully, Casey Hudson’s return to Bioware will eventually see these franchises restored to their former glory.
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