The BioWare veteran’s studio closes before a game is released

Humanoid Origin, the game studio founded by former BioWare general manager Casey Hudson, is ceasing operations. The closure was announced in a post on the company’s LinkedIn page. “Despite efforts to protect the studio from major industry challenges, we were unable to maintain operations due to an unexpected lack of funding,” the post reads.

Humanoid Origin was founded by Hudson in 2021, then under the name Humanoid Studios. Hudson founded the studio after a 20-year career at BioWare, where he worked as a producer and director on several of the studio’s groundbreaking 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. In 2020, he left BioWare permanently, saying it was time to “make way for the next generation of studio heads.”

In 2022, Humanoid Studios announced their first project, “a cross-platform AAA title focused on character-driven narratives in an entirely new science fiction universe.” Little was known about the game other than concept art on the studio’s website . Humanoid Origin’s closure is just the latest data point in the second straight year of devastating layoffs and closures impacting the video game industry. According to unofficial figures, over 23,000 jobs have been lost in the last two years, with studios such as Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and Firewalk Studios set to close in 2024.