BioWare veteran Mac Walters will 'pause operations' at his new studio after NetEase ends funding just 1 year after it was founded
It's been a rough week for BioWare veterans trying their hands at new things: Two days after former BioWare general manager Casey Hudson announced the closure of Humanoid Origin, former Mass Effect lead writer and creative director Mac Walters has been forced to “pause operations” at Worlds Untold, just one year after it was founded.
"It’s hard to find the right words for this, but I wanted to share that we’ve made the very difficult decision to pause operations at Worlds Untold while we search for a new partner to help bring our vision to life," Walters said in a message on LinkedIn. "This was not a decision we made lightly—it’s been a deeply personal journey, and we’re all so proud of everything this team has built together."
A "pause" sounds temporary, and Walters added that "this isn’t goodbye—there’s more to come, and we look forward to sharing the next chapter with you when the time is right." But he also said employees at the studio "will be exploring new opportunities," suggesting that any sort of comeback is a distant dream.
Worlds Untold was announced in 2023 as a NetEase Games studio headed by Walters, who left BioWare in 2023 after a 19 year career that saw him serve as lead writer on Mass Effect 2 and 3, creative director on Mass Effect: Andromeda, and production director on Dragon Age: The Veilguard. No details on the studio's debut project were ever revealed, but its website says it was "developing triple-A action-adventure games with an emphasis on narrative and worldbuilding."
In a statement provided to Eurogamer, NetEase said the decision to end funding for Worlds Untold was "incredibly difficult."
"This choice was not made lightly, as we have been consistently inspired by the team, their unwavering dedication and the bold vision behind their project," a spokesperson said. "Although current market conditions have required us to reassess and prioritise our opportunities, we are actively collaborating with the studio to explore potential next steps and provide support during this transition."
It's an unfortunate outcome, although not at all out of step with the broader state of the videogame industry, which has been wracked by layoffs and closures throughout the past two years. What makes this particular closure—or "pause," although it certainly sounds like this is not just a small bump in the road—unusual is that it comes just a year after Worlds Untold was announced. It's a very sudden and sharp change in direction: Most of the cuts we've seen over the past couple of years arose from grossly bad decision-making during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but that can't reasonably be the case here. If anything, it just seems like NetEase got cold feet.
I've reached out to NetEase for comment and will update if I receive a reply.