Source: the X post by Fabrice Condominas, executive producer on the Riot MMO. Verified against multiple sources; datamines and reports are labelled as such, not stated as fact.
What Happened
EA closed BioWare and ended the next Mass Effect, and the Riot MMO's executive producer answered within hours.
The closure
- BioWare is closing. BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect (its sci-fi role-playing series), said on October 21, 2026 that it "is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending."
- About 400 jobs. EA, BioWare's owner, is cutting about 400 jobs, roughly 3% of staff, about 50 of them at BioWare, per Bloomberg as reported by Video Games Chronicle.
- After the buyout. The cuts came two months after EA's $55 billion sale to investors led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a deal that left EA about $18 billion in debt.
The tribute
- Two hours later. Fabrice Condominas, the executive producer leading Riot's MMO, posted his own tribute about two hours after BioWare's statement, as an original post rather than a reply.
- His BioWare years. Press coverage of his 2024 appointment credits him with BioWare work on Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda; outlets list the titles differently.
- How Riot introduced him. Riot co-founder Marc Merrill named him the MMO's executive producer on March 20, 2024, citing "big projects at Riot, BioWare, and EA".
- His own bio. His X bio reads: "Executive Producer @RiotGames, leading the charge on the MMO. Gamer at heart, storyteller by profession."
- The last line. "You must gather your party before venturing forth" is the message the Baldur's Gate games show when you leave an area without your whole party. BioWare made the 1998 original.
RPGs in all forms have always been an important part of my life. #bioware made some of the finest, and gave me my best memories as a player and a developer. Thank you for the worlds, the companions, the choices that mattered. You must gather your party before venturing forth.
— Fabrice Condominas, executive producer on the Riot MMO, October 21, 2026, post on X
What This Means for the Riot MMO
The person who decides what the Riot MMO becomes came up at BioWare, and he named story, companions and choices as what he valued there.
- Story values first. The MMO's executive producer named worlds, companions and choices that mattered as the source of his best memories as a player and a developer.
- Storyteller by profession. That fits his bio and Merrill's 2024 reset thread, which said the initial vision "just wasn't different enough from what you can play today."
- A tribute, not a feature. "Gather your party" from the MMO's lead reads as group play with an RPG voice, but nothing in the post describes the game.
- Talent on the market. EA's cuts put experienced RPG writers and producers looking for work while Riot's MMO team keeps growing.
- It has happened before. Merrill publicly courted laid-off developers from New World, Amazon's MMO, in October 2025. Amazon shuts that game down January 31, and fans are rebuilding its servers.
- Nothing on record. Riot has said nothing about hiring from BioWare. Any recruiting link is our inference until a Riot developer posts one.
- Scope unrevealed. The MMO is set in Runeterra. Whether it has companions, branching story choices or anything BioWare-shaped at all is not revealed.
Our read. A tribute is not a design document. It does show what the person running the MMO still credits his old studio with, at a time when the 2024 reset filled the team with WoW veterans. How much BioWare-style story survives into a shared world is a question Riot has not answered.
Your Take
Should the Riot MMO lean into BioWare-style companions and story choices?
Reported from Fabrice Condominas on X and corroborating coverage. The MMO read is ours and clearly speculative. Analysis by RuneGrove.
