The identical day Bloomberg broke the information that EA was closing BioWare, one semi-viral publish on X neatly summarized the emotions of some followers: The Mass Impact IP ought to go to CD Projekt Crimson, Dragon Age to Larian Studios, and Useless Area to Capcom (not BioWare’s within the first place, however the poster was on a roll). Pay attention: I perceive the place that is coming from. I am keen on Larian. I really like (most of) the Dragon Age video games. I do know that bargaining is among the phases of grief. And I additionally firmly consider — I’m so sorry — that Larian ought to keep far, far-off from Dragon Age.
The doable takeover is hardly a brand new thought. Followers have been asking Larian to maneuver into Thedas — Dragon Age’s world, a continent of grudging nations and grim cathedrals and a god no person can fairly show is actual — since Baldur’s Gate 3 got here out in 2023 and utterly rewrote the foundations of fantasy RPG storytelling. For the final three years, posts have commonly surfaced on numerous BG3 or Dragon Age subreddits asking for this exact handover to unfold.
With BioWare formally closed as of October 2026, the quantity on these pleas went up. One Reddit publish with 4,100 upvotes hopes EA sells the IP to “some studio recognized for making nice rpgs.” Who may that be? (One of many publish’s hottest replies namedropped Larian.) The Dragon Age group has spent years hoping for a collection rescue, and we’re now studying into each tiny new soundbite seemingly telling us this might occur. Former Dragon Age government producer Mark Darrah instructed his YouTube viewers that with no person left to make BioWare video games, EA could be “extra possible” to promote the IPs, although it may also bury them within the vault. And Larian CEO Swen Vincke’s farewell to BioWare, saying it “led the best way in making RPGs massive,” gave the want a spark, since Baldur’s Gate 3 is a direct sequel to 2 of BioWare’s finest video games.
It’s a stunning thought. It might go incorrect in 4 methods.
Motive one: Larian has already instructed us the place it’s going.
In 2024, the studio mentioned that after six years within the Forgotten Realms, it was able to “seize this chance to develop our personal IPs.” That chance now has a reputation: Divinity, introduced at The Recreation Awards in December 2025 as a sport even bigger than Baldur’s Gate 3. Asking Larian to tackle Thedas means asking it to set its dream undertaking down.
Motive two: Licensed IP comes with strings.
Larian has referred to as making a bona fide D&D sport “a dream come true,” however the studio has been clear that it’s shifting on to its personal IP. Concerning earlier widespread hopes for a possible Baldur’s Gate 4 from Larian, Vincke has mentioned it’s as much as Wizards of the Coast, house owners of Baldur’s Gate IP, to “discover any individual to take over the torch.” Once you’re working with current characters and worlds, your initiatives run on another person’s phrases, and the folks at Larian appear inclined to steer clear of that.
Choosing up Dragon Age would put the studio proper again in one other tightly-controlled world. The collection comes with 17 years of lore, a fandom with very agency opinions, and important baggage. Dragon Age’s newest entry, The Veilguard, went via an “terribly tumultuous” growth cycle and was met with what may solely be described as blended critiques. It is a lot to ask a brand new proprietor to cope with. (Some followers have famous that they’d moderately see former BioWare folks carry the torch, probably in a brand-new studio of their very own, than saddle an inheritor like Larian with shopping for the IP and wrestling with its legacy.)
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Motive three: The match is much less clear than it sounds.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was a masterpiece partly as a result of Larian made the sport unmistakably Larian. Followers of Larian’s different works — notably Divinity: Unique Sin 2 — will acknowledge Larian in Baldur Gate 3’s goofy dialogue choices, the environmental puzzle fixing whereby a barrel of oil might help you skip a battle, and, specifically, the turn-based fight. No mainline Dragon Age sport has been turn-based: Origins runs on real-time fight with pause and ways slots, and the later video games lean extra towards motion, with The Veilguard straight-up being an motion RPG. There are Dragon Age followers, together with some who love Larian, who merely say they’d moderately not get a turn-based Dragon Age. Hand Dragon Age to Larian, and the possible result’s a Larian sport sporting a Dragon Age hat.
Motive 4: EA owns Dragon Age’s IP, and no person’s mentioned it’s on the market.
Darrah has mentioned EA’s first order of enterprise is determining what to chop so it doesn’t drown in curiosity on its debt, which suggests any sale would chase the largest return it may well get. He has additionally mentioned EA doesn’t see Dragon Age’s mainstream potential and turned down BioWare’s pitches for a remaster. Would Larian proudly owning Dragon Age beat EA letting it collect mud? In all probability. However that’s a low bar, and a studio this good deserves a better one.
If you wish to honor BioWare, Dragon Age, and Larian, there are higher methods to make that occur. BioWare veterans are already constructing the studio’s religious heirs, with studios like Archetype Leisure (which is making the sci-fi RPG Exodus) and Arcanaut Studios (which is led by former prime BioWare inventive Casey Hudson, and creating Star Wars: Destiny of the Previous Republic). You may and will replay absolutely the masterclasses in narrative design which are Dragon Age Origins and Divinity: Unique Sin 2. And you may let Larian concentrate on making the following factor solely Larian could make on their very own phrases, one bizarre, formidable authentic at a time. That’s the best way BioWare gave us Dragon Age within the first place. It’s Larian’s flip to do the identical.