Electronic Arts has pulled the plug on BioWare, the studio behind some of gaming’s most beloved role-playing franchises, and scrapped the next Mass Effect title in development.
The closure, confirmed Wednesday on BioWare’s social channels, follows a Bloomberg report detailing 400 layoffs across EA, including roughly 50 at BioWare’s Edmonton-based operation. The fifth Mass Effect game, in progress since the franchise launched in 2007, will not see release.
BioWare spent nearly three decades crafting narrative-driven epics that earned fierce fan loyalty. Baldur’s Gate, Dragon Age, Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect each reshaped expectations for character depth and player choice in interactive storytelling.
But the studio strayed from that formula with Anthem, a 2019 multiplayer shooter that cratered against live-service juggernauts like Fortnite and Overwatch. As a result, BioWare never recovered its footing.
Meanwhile, the newest chapters in its flagship series struggled too. Mass Effect: Andromeda arrived in 2017 to lukewarm reception, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard followed in 2024 with similarly mixed reviews that alienated long-time fans.
EA acquired BioWare in 2007, two years after the studio’s founding in 1995. The publisher itself changed hands just months ago. Its $55 billion sale to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake Partners, and Affinity Partners closed in August. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, runs Affinity.
EA representatives have not responded to requests for comment on the layoffs.
In its farewell message, BioWare struck a reflective note. “What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember,” the studio posted. “These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with characters, and created these worlds your own.”
The shutdown marks the end of one of the industry’s most influential single-player studios, leaving Mass Effect’s future uncertain and a devoted fanbase without the sequel they had been promised.
