Larian Studios Boss Swen Vincke Reacted to BioWare’s Shutdown, Saying, “What a Loss for All of Us”

It has been several days since we learned that Electronic Arts shut down BioWare, but the topic is still in the headlines. Fans keep voicing their anger on forums, and other developers are weighing in too.

As an example, Swen Vincke, head of Larian, a studio that, like BioWare, is best known for RPGs, including Baldur’s Gate 3 and the Divinity: Original Sin games, also shared his thoughts. On X, Vincke wrote that the closure of such an iconic studio is a huge loss for everyone, and he thanked the developers for all the games they made. You can read the full statement from the Larian head below:

This is not something I ever expected to see.

Larian and Bioware started their trajectories in the games industry at the same time and Bioware led the way in making RPGs big. It's almost unimaginable that we're now entering an era were the name Bioware won't show up anymore when discussing upcoming RPGs. What a loss for all of us.

Thank you for all the games. Thank you for the many hours of gameplay. Thank you for all the stories. You can be damned proud of what you achieved.

I hope you all land well.

Along with BioWare’s shutdown, EA also canceled Mass Effect 5, which, as a leaked trailer showed, was subtitled Universe. BioWare veteran Tony de Waal, who worked on the game, recently revealed in an interview that the studio drew inspiration for the fifth game from Larian’s approach to development, as well as from CD Projekt RED. As for Larian, at last year’s The Game Awards they announced Divinity, a new entry in the franchise that promises to be the studio’s most ambitious project yet.

As for the canceled Mass Effect: Universe, one insider claimed the game was set 600 years after the original trilogy, and the story centered on a galactic Cold War. In gameplay terms, it would have had fully hand-written missions, freedom of choice, an emphasis on realism, and interaction with the world around you.