BioWare

BioWare Corp is a Canadian entertainment software company best known for its roleplaying games, including a number of Forgotten Realms computer game titles.

BioWare was founded in Edmonton, Canada in 1995 by medical students Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk. After initially developing Shattered Steel in 1996, BioWare went on to develop Baldur's Gate for Black Isle Studios in 1998, their first out of many contributions to the Forgotten Realms license. Baldur's Gate proved to be both a smash success and critically acclaimed and in 1999 the developer put out an expansion pack, Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast, followed by a sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn in 2000, which was even more acclaimed and acquired another expansion pack, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal in 2001.

In 2002, BioWare released its last stand-alone Forgotten Realms game to date, Neverwinter Nights, which, again, proved a critical and commercial success. BioWare continued support for the game, releasing two story-based expansions (Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide and Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark) as well as several downloadable "premium modules" and the Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker expansion pack. BioWare would later also provide limited oversight over Obsidian Entertainment's development of the sequel, released in 2006.

In 2005, BioWare merged with Pandemic Studios which were later both acquired by Electronic Arts in late 2007. BioWare's most recent release was Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, an expansion to Dragon Age: Origins, which BioWare billed as a "spiritual successor" to Baldur's Gate.