On Wednesday, publisher Electronic Arts announced that it was closing BioWare and canceling the next Mass Effect game. It’s the kind of thing EA has always done, but the news still caught many off guard. And BioWare’s goodbye message to fans also disappointed at least one developer who is still working on the Star Wars MMO the studio helped create over a decade ago.
Back in 2011, BioWare launched Star Wars: The Old Republic, an MMO set in the same time period as the studio’s popular Knights of the Old Republic RPG. It was BioWare’s first attempt at making a large-scale multiplayer video game, and while it wasn’t perfect, the writing and voice acting were praised by many. In 2023, EA moved BioWare off of developing Old Republic and put Ultima Online steward studio Broadsword in charge of developing future updates for the still-online MMORPG. Because it’s still ongoing, it’s a piece of BioWare’s legacy that is still kicking even after the studio’s closure.
— BioWare (@bioware) October 21, 2026
Yet BioWare didn’t mention SWTOR in its public goodbye message to fans, which seemingly disappointed the MMO’s lead writer, Caitlin Sullivan Kelly.
“No mention of the game that’s been going for almost fifteen years,” posted Kelly on Twitter, “That supported the studio and all of its projects with income and manpower and time sometimes to our own detriment. Heartbreaking.”
In response to a fan’s message that they are still playing the MMORPG but are sad to see what happened to the studio they once loved, Kelly said Dragon Age: Origins was the game that “made me want to be a game dev.” Kelly previously worked at BioWare before being moved over to Broadsword to continue supporting the Star Wars MMO.
“I started playing Star Wars: The Old Republic because it was a BioWare game,” said Kelly. “I can’t help but feel sad that the studio a lot of us loved, even before we worked there, leaves us out of the history book.”
Meanwhile, KOTOR director and Mass Effect co-creator Casey Hudson is working on a new spiritual successor to the Knights of the Old Republic series. That game is likely a few years away from launch.
