BioWare's Multiplayer PC Game Shadow Realms Canceled

[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, BioWare Austin officially announced the cancellation of Shadow Realms. The developer will now focus its efforts on other projects, but mostly PC MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare Austin general manager Jeff Hickman explains in a statement posted on the game's website. You can read his full statement below.

"Today I’m sharing some important news about Shadow Realms and our BioWare Austin studio.

We’ve made the decision to not move forward with development of Shadow Realms. We fully recognize that this news is disappointing to some of our fans, so I want to explain more behind this decision.

While the team did amazing work on the game concept and we got lots of great feedback from our fans at events and through other game testing, right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond. We’ve got an incredibly talented team here at the Austin studio, and they are excited and already deep on new projects within the BioWare family, ones that will make some great BioWare games even better.

These include additional ongoing enhancements to the award-winning Dragon Age: Inquisition, as well as the next game in the Mass Effect series and other new IP.

But the biggest focus for our team in BioWare Austin will be on Star Wars: The Old Republic. As every Star Wars fan knows, this is a massive year in the Star Wars universe. We have some great plans for expanding this epic game this year, and look forward to sharing the news about those plans with our players in the coming weeks.

For all the people that registered for the Shadow Realms Closed Alpha, we’re working on a way to say thank-you for signing up. To all those players that gave us feedback at Gamescom and PAX, and those that shared their thoughts and impressions in the past months, we thank you for being part of the conversation."

The original story is below.

Following a report last month that claimed BioWare's 4v1 PC online game Shadow Realms had been rebooted for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, sources told Game Informer today that the title has been canceled outright.

Multiple sources at publisher Electronic Arts said the game is no longer in the works, though it's unclear as to why the game has been shut down or if there will be layoffs as a result.

EA declined to comment when approached by Game Informer.

The game, which was announced during Gamescom less than a year ago, was in development at Star Wars: The Old Republic developer BioWare Austin.

Set in a modern fantasy world, Shadow Realms was described as an "online-only" RPG that would offer cooperative 4v1 gameplay. Four players can fight against an enemy known as the Shadowlord, or you can play as the Shadowlord.

"This game brings us back to our roots in the realm of classic Pen and Paper RPG, but also delivers something that’s completely new and innovative for our fans," Hickman said at the time. "Shadow Realms is a new BioWare RPG that has the hallmarks of all BioWare games with a rich story, a unique world setting, and deep combat progression, but built as an interactive experience that evolves the genre and broadens the appeal to online gamers all over the world."

We'll have more information about the fate of Shadow Realms as it becomes available.