BioWare veteran’s studio shuts down before releasing a game

Humanoid Origin, the game studio founded by former BioWare general manager Casey Hudson, is shutting down operations. The closure was announced in a post on the company’s LinkedIn page. “Despite efforts to shield the studio from broader challenges in the industry, an unexpected shortfall of funding left us unable to sustain operations,” the post read.

Humanoid Origin was founded by Hudson in 2021 when it was then known as Humanoid Studios. Hudson started the studio after leaving a 20-year career at BioWare where he worked as a producer and director on several of the studio’s seminal titles including Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Hudson left BioWare in 2014 for a brief stint at Microsoft Studios before returning to BioWare in 2017. Then in 2020, he left BioWare for good saying it was time to, “make way for the next generation of studio leaders.”

In 2022, Humanoid Studios announced its first project, “a multi-platform AAA title focused on character-driven narrative in an all-new science fiction universe.” Beyond concept art on the studio’s website, little was known about the game. Humanoid Origin’s closure is just the latest data point in the second year running of devastating layoffs and closures impacting the video game industry. According to unofficial tallies, over 23,000 jobs have been lost over the last two years with 2024 seeing the shuttering of studios like Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Firewalk Studios.