BioWare, creator of 'Mass Effect' and 'Dragon Age,' is shutting down. As development on the next 'Mass Effect,' which was in its early stages, is also canceled, the history of a studio that represented Western RPGs for over 30 years has come to an end.
On the 21st local time, EA announced in a joint letter sent to employees that it is closing the BioWare studio and its Edmonton office. The memo was sent jointly by President and Chief Studios Officer Cam Weber and President David Tinson. The two explained, "BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the RPG genre, and we do not take this decision lightly."
BioWare also left its own farewell message via its official X account. The studio mentioned games it released over the past 30 years, including 'Baldur's Gate,' 'Neverwinter Nights,' 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,' 'Dragon Age,' 'Mass Effect,' and 'Anthem.' It continued, "After an adventure spanning over 30 years, BioWare is closing, and early development on the next Mass Effect project is also ending," adding, "Every one of you who played our games, debated choices, and fell in love with our characters was the most meaningful part of our story."
Job cuts are also following. According to Bloomberg, EA will eliminate roughly 400 positions company-wide through this restructuring, with about 50 of those at BioWare. However, EA's memo did not contain specific layoff numbers.
This decision comes two months after EA transitioned into a private company. EA completed a deal in August to be acquired for $55 billion (approx. 73 trillion won) by a consortium that included Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Silver Lake. In the process, EA took on roughly $18 billion (approx. 24 trillion won) in debt and previously announced annual cost reductions of $700 million (approx. 930 billion won). Industry observers had predicted BioWare to be the top candidate for restructuring even before the company went private.
EA is focusing its efforts on major upcoming releases. In the same letter, EA defined action-adventure as a genre where every game requires full commitment, naming the new 'Marvel's Iron Man' and 'Star Wars Jedi' titles as two massive upcoming launches. The company stated that going forward, it will reduce the number of simultaneous large-scale projects, explaining that closing BioWare was a decision made while concentrating on larger opportunities. A new title co-developed by Respawn and DICE is also in preparation, which some speculate to be a new 'Star Wars Battlefront' entry.
Meanwhile, some view this studio closure as a foreseen outcome. BioWare received harsh criticism for 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' in 2017, and its 2019 live-service game 'Anthem' was a commercial failure. 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard,' released in 2024, performed below EA's expectations with approximately 1.5 million quarterly active users, leading BioWare to make significant staff cuts the following year. The next 'Mass Effect,' first revealed in 2020, remained in early development six years later.
What remains is the fate of the franchises now that the studio is gone. EA still owns the Mass Effect and Dragon Age IP. Consequently, possibilities have been raised that EA might sell off the two franchises separately or entrust them to external developers. Meanwhile, no details were disclosed regarding the status of the Mass Effect TV series currently in production at Amazon or the operational support for existing games.
