BioWare is a well-known game developer that specializes in role-playing videogames. The company's first game was a 1996 mech simulation game called Shattered Steel, which was met with more or less success. Regardless, their next game Baldur's Gate, earned them respect and put the company on the world map. The game sold 2 million copies - the same as Diablo, which was also published at the same time.
The studio was later sold to Electronic Arts but still continued to do what it does best - creating first-class role-playing videogames. Among its portfolio, Mass Effect and the Dragon Age series are held in high regard, while the studio also experimented with other games such as Jade Empire and Star War: Knights of the Old Republic. Among those, some sold better than others.
10 Mass Effect - 2 Million
Always planned to be a part of a trilogy, the game was in development for more than three years, when it reached shelves. For a new intellectual property, Mass Effect had a solid debut, reaching sixth place in the US sales chart with sales of 473 000 copies in the first month. The next month the game wasn't among the top 10 bestselling. At the same time, worldwide sales were over one million.
Later, the game reached lifetime sales that exceeded 2 million, which makes Mass Effect the lowest selling game in the series, but it nonetheless made a path for future critically and commercially successful sequels.
9 Dragon Age: Origins - 3.2 Million
The game was a new intellectual property for BioWare and conceived as a spiritual successor of Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Upon release, the game was extremely popular on Steam where it reached first place on the sales chart, while the physical form Xbox 360 version performed particularly well.
CEO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello said that the company is very satisfied with the game sales, and noted that 1 million DLC packs were sold as well, while later in February 2010, Electronic Arts announced that more than 3.2 million copies of the game were sold worldwide.
8 Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic - 3.2 Million
Set 4 000 years before the formation of the Galactic Empire, the game puts a player in the shoes of Jedi on a quest to defeat Darth Malak. After its release on July 15, 2003, the Xbox version of the game was sold out in the first four days - with 250 000 copies. The game was also very popular on PC where it was the third bestselling game. Worldwide sales for the same year reached 1 million.
The game's sales rose steadily as time progressed with 2 million by February 2015, 2.5 million by May 2015, and almost 3 million by March 2006. By 2007 the sales were standing at 3.2 million across all platforms.
7 Baldurs Gate II: Shadows Of Amn - 3.5 Million
The game had a solid debut in the sales chart of the top 10 bestselling games in the first month of its release. The game was published in 2000 only on PC without it being ported anywhere else, which negatively affected its sales.
Baldurs Gate II: Shadows Of Amn on the other hand was met with critical acclaim and today is considered as one of the best games ever made. As a result, the game's sales rose overtime, more than some other game would. It sold 1.5 million copies by December 2002, 2 million by November 2005, and approximately 3.5 million by today's date.
6 Baldurs Gate - 3.5 Milion
The projections for the commercial performance of Baldurs Gate were very low. BioWare expected to have worldwide sales of 200 000, enough to justify a sequel. Those projections were some have well-substantiated since it was the studio's second game that was developed.
Like with the critically acclaimed successor the original Baldurs Gate was also published only on PC two years earlier, which led to pretty similar sales, while also keeping in mind the games sometimes were sold together. The game had a worldwide sales of 2.2 million in 2003, which later totaled around 3.5 million, like the sequel.
5 Anthem - 5 Million
Upon release, the game was among the most downloaded games for PlayStation 4, and SuperData, a market research company reported that the game earned over 100 million dollars in digital revenue.
There is no official data on the total number of sales units of Anthem, but in 2019 the CEO of Electronic Arts stated that the game failed to reach sales expectations of 6 million by the end of March of the same year, further adding that they also hoped to earn money from microtransactions as well. Considering that that was two years ago, it is safe to assume that the game sold a little less than that number - probably around 5 million.
4 Mass Effect: Andromeda - 5 Million
After the first three, successfully and commercially well-received games, the fourth entry in the Mass Effect series was highly anticipated, so strong sales were expected. It was the bestselling game in the United Kingdom in physical form. It was the seventh bestselling game of the year.
BioWare's General Manager stated that Mass Effect: Andromeda should sell 5 million copies. Later, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson told the press that the game performed very well, which means that the game probably sold something around the predicted number of 5 million units.
3 Mass Effect 2 - 5 Million
After the well-received first game, the sequel was an improvement in every aspect, which led to critical acclaim and labeling the game as one of the best ever made. As expected, the game won many "Game of the year" awards from various media outlets. Mass Effect 2 once again follows Commander Shepard, this time on a mission to save a galaxy from an insectoid alien race known as collectors, all with the help of charismatic new recruits.
The game sold 2 million copies in the first 2 weeks of its release. The estimates for the worldwide sales of the game are considered to be more than 5 million copies.
2 Dragon Age: Inqusition - 6 Milion
As with the other games in the Dragone Age series, this entry was also more than well-received. BioWare decided to create the third game combining the elements from the first two games. The traditional top-down role-playing game camera is still available.
The sales of Dragon Age: Inquisition are obscure. In the 2015 Electronic Arts fiscal report, the data shows that the game had the most successful lunch in BioWare's history. According to that founding, it is safe to assume that the lifetime sales of the game are around 6 million. The sequel of the game is currently in development.
1 Mass Effect 3 - 7 Million
Although not being the last game in the series, it is the last that featured Commander Shepard, who is on his final mission to save mankind from the synthetic-organic starships called Reapers, that plan to purge the galaxy from all life. Mass Effect 3 was highly anticipated and sold 890 000 copies in the first 24 hours, with 3.5 million copies being sold in the first month.
Considering that the game was met with critical acclaim, with some publications calling it one of the best games ever made, its sales did not slow so drastically, and total worldwide estimates are somewhere around 7 million.