BioWare is shutting down its forums

The majority of BioWare’s forums will shut down on Aug. 26, the developer announced on its blog. These include community boards dedicated to Dragon Age, Mass Effect and other popular series.

"This wasn’t an easy decision," lead community manager Conal Pierse wrote in the post. He explained that BioWare intended for the forums to be a place where the developer could talk directly with fans. That purpose, he says, is now better served elsewhere. BioWare maintains a presence on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and fans have found and connected with each other on Tumblr and Reddit, according to the developer.

"With so many great things so widely available, our developers today find themselves spending more time on other sites, and less time in our own forums," Pierse said. "And to our fans and players who came to those boards looking to talk to us, it was a great disservice."

Fans will no longer be able to post on the forums, which host more than 20 million posts and over half a million members. After Aug. 26, the archives will stay open to revisit until Oct. 25. At that point, BioWare will take them down completely.

One forum will stay active, however: the one BioWare hosts for Star Wars: The Old Republic. That forum runs on a separate website and has several different boards dedicated to the massively multiplayer online game.