Electronic Arts confirmed on October 21 that it is shutting down BioWare, the Edmonton studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and has cancelled the next Mass Effect game that was in early development.
In an announcement to staff posted on EA’s site and signed by EA president and chief studios officer Cam Weber and EA president and COO David Tinson, the publisher said the restructuring will cut around 400 jobs company-wide, roughly 3% of its workforce, with about 50 of those at BioWare. Weber and Tinson said the decision followed “a hard look” at the business over several months.
“BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly,” the executives wrote. They said the company would “concentrate our efforts on fewer simultaneous, large-scale projects, ensuring that every game we build in this space is fully set up for success.”
A 31-year run ends
BioWare was founded in Canada in 1995 by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, and built the original Baldur’s Gate games, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic before EA acquired it in 2007. The studio’s most recent release, 2024’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard, underperformed by EA’s own account, and the publisher laid off some BioWare staff in 2025 after the game missed sales expectations.
The next Mass Effect was first teased in 2020, and BioWare said last year that a core team was still working on it. EA said the project will not move to another internal studio.
BioWare posted a farewell statement on October 21. “Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending,” the studio wrote.
First big move under new ownership
The cuts are the first major restructuring since a $55 billion take-private deal led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, closed in August. The same announcement said Respawn and DICE will collaborate on a future project, which multiple outlets reporting the memo identify as a new Star Wars Battlefront, and confirmed EA is still working on its Iron Man game and a third Star Wars Jedi title. EA said it would discuss its direction further at a Global Town Hall in November.
