BioWare’s next game, Shadow Realms, cancelled before release

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Dragon Age: Inquisition racked up glowing reviews, and the next Mass Effect is in the works, but BioWare had something else in the works: a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired, modern-day PC role-player. No more, however.

After reports of its demise surfaced earlier in the day, BioWare confirmed news that Shadow Realms has ceased development and will not release as planned early this year. The episodic game was announced last August at Gamescom, and with a cooperative dungeon-crawling design, it sounded like a different kind of game for the studio compared to its other modern output.

“While the team did amazing work on the game concept and we got lots of great feedback from our fans at events and through other game testing, right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond,” reads the post from BioWare Austin general manager, Jeff Hickman.

In other words, it wasn’t enough of a priority for BioWare and publisher EA, so the studio is being put to work on other projects. They’ll primarily be working on Star Wars: The Old Republic in advance of Star Wars: The Force Awakens hitting cinemas late this year, and Hickman promises that they have “some great plans for expanding this epic game this year.”

Furthermore, the team will help with additions to Dragon Age: Inquisition and assist with development of the new Mass Effect and other unannounced new properties. EA only ever released live-action teasers for Shadow Realms, but you can catch some off-screen footage from Gamescom above via IGN.

It’s always disappointing for an intriguing game to get the boot before it even has an opportunity to flourish, but with little concrete info and imagery released to date, it was still early enough to pull the plug without many folks feeling a strong connection to the material. And if it means that BioWare’s current and soon-to-come games are even stronger, then the call makes sense.

[Source: Shadow Realms]

(Corrected: Original posting listed Star Wars Galaxies instead of Star Wars: The Old Republic.)

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Andrew writes features, news stories, reviews, and other pieces, often when the UK home team is off-duty or asleep. I'm based in Chicago with my lovely wife, amazing son, and silly cats, and my writing about games, gadgets, esports, apps, and plenty more has appeared in more than 75 publications since 2006.