BioWare is an electronic entertainment company best known for its computer roleplaying games. It is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with a second studio in Austin, Texas, USA, and a third in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
History[]
BioWare's first Star Wars game was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, released for both Microsoft Xbox and PC in 2003.
On November 3, 2005, Elevation Partners, a private equity firm, announced the creation of a partnership between BioWare and Pandemic Studios, the developers of Star Wars: Battlefront and its sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront II. Though they now have common ownership and pool their expertise to develop games, both companies retain their individual staffs and brands.[2] On October 11, 2007, Electronic Arts announced they had purchased both studios from Elevation Partners.[1]
Years of rumors and wishful thinking by fans surrounded the possibility of a BioWare-produced Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 or some other Star Wars project. BioWare's spokespeople typically responded to these rumors by stating their intention to focus on original titles (such as Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age: Origins) rather than licensed games. However, in 2007, a LucasArts-BioWare partnership to produce a "ground-breaking interactive entertainment product" was announced, though details were vague.[3]
In the following months, rumors persisted about the development of a new Knights of the Old Republic video game, spurred on by leaks from within BioWare[4] and LucasArts[5] and the registration of "Star Wars The Old Republic"[6] and "The Old Republic"[7] as LucasArts trademarks. During the E3 2008 expo, Electronic Arts executive John Riccitello confirmed that the game Star Wars: The Old Republic would be connected to the Knights of the Old Republic series of video games.[8] It was released in North America and Europe on December 20, 2011.
Gameography[]
Sources[]
- 40 Years Later: Lucasfilm Games Starts a New Era on Lucasfilm.com (backup link)
- Mando Mania: Black Series Pyke Soldier Revealed, and More! on StarWars.com (backup link)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 EA TO ACQUIRE BIOWARE CORP. AND PANDEMIC STUDIOS (PDF) on bioware.com (October 11, 2007) (archived from the original on May 12, 2008)
- ↑ Elevation Partners' First Investment Creates BioWare, Pandemic Partnership on bioware.pandemicstudios.com (November 3, 2005) (archived from the original on December 1, 2005)
- ↑ Lucasarts and Bioware Corp. To Develop Ground-Breaking Interactive Entertainment Product on lucasartsbioware.com (archived from the original on October 31, 2007)
- ↑ BioWare's Upcoming MMO Based in KOTOR Universe by erazor on the mmolab (October 30, 2007) (archived from the original on December 14, 2007)
- ↑ Ex-Lucasarts Employee claims BioWare MMO is Kotor3 on the mmolab (June 8, 2008) (archived from the original on August 29, 2008)
- ↑ STAR WARS THE OLD REPUBLIC on United States Patent and Trademark Office (archived from the original on December 14, 2012)
- ↑ THE OLD REPUBLIC on United States Patent and Trademark Office (archived from the original on December 14, 2012)
- ↑ EA to Play in Knights of the Old Republic on Portfolio.com (July 17, 2008) (archived from the original on July 19, 2008)
External links[]
- Official website
- BioWare (@bioware) on Twitter
- BioWare on Wikipedia