In a New Year blog post over at BioWare's official site, incumbent studio boss Gary McKay has outlined his and the team's desire to return the once-loved studio back to its development heights. He cites the glory days of titles long past and the fan fervour that comes with those, alongside the reception seen towards 2021's Mass Effect: Legendary Edition as reminders of what they can continue to strive for.

"When I took on the GM role, I talked about rebuilding our reputation, and that remains a huge priority," he states in the post. "We are laser-focused on building back the trust of our fans and community, and we plan to do that by delivering the types of games that we are best known for and ensuring they are of the highest quality. Our mission is to “Create worlds of adventure, conflict, and companionship that inspire you to become the hero of your story.” We want the launch of our games to be seminal moments in the industry. We want each game to earn the kind of reaction we’ve seen with Mass Effect Legendary Edition. We feel that we have the right people, the right creative focus, and the support from EA to deliver on the promise.

"I’m excited to launch Legacy of the Sith, the latest expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic, on February 15," he shares. "We’re on the doorstep of a new expansion that will see the players with more combat style choices, a new storyline that returns you to the underwater depths of Manaan and the ruined Sith fortress on the planet Elom, and so much more! It all starts in February, and we’ll have more updates throughout the year. We are extremely proud of having created a game that has been running successfully for ten years now.

"And of course, we remain hard at work on the next iterations of Dragon Age and Mass Effect."

The full post, which you can read in the link above, also talks about how the studio has, and continues to, tackle the pandemic while also revealing that eagle-eyed fans might be able to spot up to five teasers towards the immediate future of Mass Effect from this poster released last year.

It's certainly a refreshing and transparent update from a studio that has had to climb some way out of its more recently-dug hole, but given that rich history, we're more than willing to give them another shot. At least on one condition:

Read this, BioWare. And read it now!