EA closes BioWare and cancels next Mass Effect game, cutting 400 jobs

Electronic Arts (EA) is closing BioWare, the studio behind the Mass Effect and Dragon Age role-playing games, and cancelling the next Mass Effect game as part of a restructuring that will cut about 400 jobs, Dawn and Geo News reported.

EA announced the plan in an email to employees on Wednesday. It said it would close BioWare’s studio in Edmonton, Canada, and end an early-stage Mass Effect project, marking the end of the developer known for titles such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

“BioWare is closing”

In a statement on X, the studio wrote: “After more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing, and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.”

“There is nothing easy about writing those words. Our focus right now is on our incredibly talented team who put their hearts into these games, and supporting one another through this transition,” it said. “These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with the characters, and made these worlds your own.”

The cuts

EA plans to cut around 400 jobs, about 3% of its total staff, including roughly 50 at BioWare, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the plans. Most of the cuts will fall on other EA teams rather than BioWare itself, according to the Bloomberg report. The company said it would help affected employees look for other roles within EA.

According to Geo News, chief executive Cam Weber and chief financial officer David Tinson told staff the company had been reviewing its business for several months and would put its money into projects with higher growth potential.

What EA keeps, and what it drops

• Continuing: Battlefield, Apex Legends, EA Sports FC, Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game.
• Smaller: the team behind the skateboarding game skate will become a smaller, more focused studio.
• Paused: a project from The Sims team codenamed Lotus, while work continues on another codenamed Evergreen.
• Ended: BioWare and the next Mass Effect.

EA said it would concentrate on fewer large-scale action-adventure games. It has not said what will happen to the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises in the longer term.

Thirty-one years of role-playing games

BioWare was founded in 1995 and became famous for role-playing games including Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Geo News reported that the cancelled Mass Effect game had been in development for years. In January 2025, the studio had said veteran developers from the original Mass Effect trilogy were working on the next instalment.

New owners, new priorities

The closure comes two months after EA was taken private in a $55 billion deal led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, which closed in August.

For fans who had waited years for the next Mass Effect, Wednesday’s news means that game will not be made by the studio that created the series.