BioWare, the video game studio behind beloved franchises like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, is shutting down.
Its parent company, Electronic Arts (EA), is closing the studio and canceling development of the next Mass Effect game.
For decades, BioWare created some of the most acclaimed role-playing games in the industry. Its games attracted passionate fans who spent countless hours exploring its worlds.
But BioWare's closure comes at a time when content creators across industries are confronting a difficult reality: Creating content that people love doesn't necessarily guarantee a sustainable business.
The Problem Isn't Just Video Games
In its announcement, EA acknowledged a problem that extends far beyond gaming:
Players have more choices than ever for their time and attention, competition is intensifying, and some of our biggest opportunities for growth are beyond the markets, platforms, and business models where EA has traditionally been the strongest.
Sound familiar?
Last week, I wrote about Netflix, which increased its content spending by 11% while watch time grew just 2%.
Netflix and BioWare operate in very different industries, but both face an increasingly crowded entertainment market. Their audiences have more choices than ever, and earning their attention is becoming more difficult.
If you're a content creator, you're competing for that same limited supply of attention, often against companies with far greater resources.
The Content Arms Race
When your business needs more attention, you publish more frequently or invest in higher production quality. You work harder to make your next piece of content stand out.
But your competitors are doing the same thing.
That's the Content Arms Race. As everyone produces more content, standing out becomes harder. You find yourself working harder just to maintain the attention you already have, while attracting more attention doesn't necessarily translate into more revenue.
Great content alone is becoming a less reliable foundation for a sustainable business.
The Future Lies Beyond Content
The solution isn't to stop producing great content. It's to stop relying on content as your only source of value.
In its farewell message, BioWare acknowledged that its players had created something bigger than the games themselves:
What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember. These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with the characters, and made these worlds your own.
And the fans are proving that point.
A petition to save Mass Effect has reportedly attracted more than 100,000 signatures. Even with the studio closing and the next game canceled, fans are coming together to fight for something they care about.
BioWare may be disappearing, but the relationships and shared passion it inspired aren't going away.
This points toward a different way of creating value.
Community Revenue: An Different Business Model
When you build a community, you bring people together so they can create value for one another. Instead of depending entirely on what you publish next, your business can also benefit from the relationships and experiences your audience members create together.
Imagine building a community where members pay to connect with others who share their interests. They return because of the relationships they've developed and the value they receive from participating, not because you've published another piece of content.
Your role shifts from constantly producing content to creating opportunities for members to connect with one another.
That's Community Revenue.
The future of your business doesn't have to depend on how much content you produce. It can depend on the community you build.
What About Your Audience?
You don't need millions of followers to start building a community. You need people who want to do more than consume your content.
And your audience may already be showing signs that they're ready.
Take the free Community Readiness Scorecard to find out where your audience stands and what you can do next.
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