Electronic Arts is closing BioWare.On October 21, the studio itself announced this on social networks: “BioWare is closing, and early development of the next Mass Effect project is being stopped.”After more than 30 years of work, the team that made Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect has neither a studio nor a new game in the pipeline.
Studio statement and letter from EA management
BioWare's post says that writing such words was not easy.Now, according to the authors, the main thing for the studio is to support the talented people who put their souls into these games, and each other during the transition period.Separately, BioWare thanked the players: the worlds of the studio became much larger because they played them, argued about choices and fell in love with the heroes.
Bloomberg was the first to write about the closure.According to him, in a letter to employees dated October 21, EA chief operating officer David Tinson and director of studios Cam Weber announced staff reductions and the cancellation of several projects.The letter contains a phrase that in recent months the company has “taken a sober look at its business.”Among the canceled projects is an early project of the new Mass Effect.
The layoffs affected the entire company
In total, about 400 people are being laid off, which is about 3 percent of EA's staff.About 50 of them worked for BioWare.EA representatives did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press.According to Bloomberg, company executives made it clear in a letter that new cuts to people and projects are possible in the near future.
The decision came shortly after the change of owners.The $55 billion deal was closed in August 2026: EA was bought by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF, the investment firm Silver Lake Partners and Affinity Partners, which is managed by Jared Kushner.The deal added about $18 billion in debt to EA's books, according to Dexerto.Earlier, the company told investors it had identified savings of up to $700 million, including through research and development costs.
Other EA projects
BioWare is not the only one affected by the restructuring.According to Dexerto, EA has canceled Project Lotus, the upcoming The Sims game, and is giving priority to a project internally called Project Evergreen.Work on skate will continue, but the team will be reduced.Next, the company is going to invest in the sports series EA Sports, Apex Legends and Battlefield.There are also plans for the next Star Wars Jedi and a Marvel-licensed Iron Man game.Respawn and DICE will be sharing a project, and Bloomberg believes it could be a new Star Wars Battlefront.
BioWare's Long Slump
The closure follows several difficult years.Mass Effect: Andromeda received mixed reviews in 2017.The 2019 multiplayer Anthem, according to the Associated Press, took the studio away from its main strength: story-based role-playing games for one player.The studio's latest game, 2024's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, didn't live up to EA's expectations.According to GamesRadar, sales are behind plan by almost 50 percent, and BioWare has already experienced serious cuts in 2025.
The authors themselves responded to the closure.Casey Hudson, co-creator of Mass Effect, wrote that he began his career at BioWare and is forever grateful to the founders of the studio.Writer Derek Kunsken said that he was working on the next part of Mass Effect, and the green light to talk about it was given only because the studio was being closed.He hopes to share at least some of what he did in the coming weeks.
The fate of the series is still open
EA has not announced what will happen to the Mass Effect and Dragon Age brands, other than canceling the new game.Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah, according to an IGN headline, believes that EA is now more likely to sell such rights.This is his assumption, not the company's decision.Previously, he attributed Veilguard's failure to the excessive expectations that EA had for the studio.
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