BioWare is closing, and the next Mass Effect is going with it

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Electronic Arts is shutting down BioWare after more than three decades, bringing the curtain down on the studio behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Baldur’s Gate, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. EA also canceled the next Mass Effect in early development, and the closure is part of a wider restructuring that will reportedly eliminate around 400 jobs across EA.

Roughly 50 of those positions are reportedly at BioWare, and EA is also closing the studio’s Edmonton workspace. BioWare confirmed the news in its own farewell message, thanking the developers and players who helped build its games over the past 30 years.

What went wrong at BioWare?

BioWare’s legacy is difficult to overstate, but its last few major releases never managed to recreate the run that made the studio famous. Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017) arrived to a much colder reception than the original trilogy, while Anthem (2021) became one of EA’s more infamous live-service misfires.

Its final major release, Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), did little to reverse the situation. EA said the game reached around 1.5 million players during its launch quarter, nearly 50% below the company’s expectations. BioWare was subsequently cut down to a much smaller team focused primarily on the next Mass Effect.Considering that trajectory, the closure doesn’t come out of nowhere, even if seeing the BioWare name disappear is still difficult because of how much of modern RPG history the studio helped create.

EA is cutting deeper

BioWare is only one part of EA’s latest restructuring. The publisher is cutting roughly 400 jobs, equal to about 3% of its workforce, while also reducing teams elsewhere and reshuffling development priorities.

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EA says it will continue investing in Apex Legends, Marvel’s Iron Man, the next Star Wars Jedi, and future Battlefield projects. Respawn and DICE are also being brought together for another project, while development priorities across The Sims and Skate are being narrowed.

Sudhanshu Kumar Mangalam Contributor Sudhanshu Kumar Manglam is a tech journalist at Digital Trends, where he covers consumer technology, science, and games.

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