Kotaku Blames Trump and “the Bigots” for BioWare’s Shutdown

BioWare’s announcement that the studio is closing after more than 30 years, canceling early work on the next Mass Effect, has been met with a wave of “go woke, go broke” reactions from players who watched the company steadily alienate its own audience. For many longtime fans, the news reads less like a sudden corporate surprise and more like the logical endpoint of years spent prioritizing progressive messaging over the choice-driven RPGs that once defined the brand. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the studio’s final major release, became the clearest example. Companion Taash was written as non-binary, with the game deploying modern, leftist terminology and identity-focused story beats that felt jarring inside a high-fantasy setting. Earlier Dragon Age entries had handled similar themes with more restraint and in-universe framing, but Veilguard largely did not. One widely shared scene drove the point home: after a character accidentally misgenders another, she drops to the floor for a set of push-ups as a performative apology (“pulling a Barve”), then explains why casual sorries are insufficient. Players and critics described the moment as preachy and immersion-breaking, and as an on-th...