EA is closing BioWare after more than 30 years, and the next Mass Effect is cancelled

BioWare announced its own closure on 21 October. Bloomberg reports EA is cutting about 400 jobs, roughly 50 of them at the studio, and dropping a Sims game too.

AI-drafted from 3 sources. This story was written with AI from the outside reporting listed under Sources, and checked by automated tools before it went up. The originals have the full detail.

BioWare, the studio behind Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, is closing. The studio announced it in a post on social media on 21 October, which also said that early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.

"There is nothing easy about writing those words," the statement reads. "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 lists Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, Mass Effect and Anthem as the games BioWare made, and ends by thanking players for "being the most meaningful part of our story".

About 400 jobs across EA

The closure is part of a wider round of cuts. Bloomberg reports that Electronic Arts will cut about 400 jobs, roughly 3% of its staff, with around 50 of them at BioWare, citing a person familiar with the company's plans. In a staff letter seen by Bloomberg, chief operating officer David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber wrote that "over the past several months, we've taken a hard look at our business". Game Developer quotes the letter as saying EA is "making deliberate choices to align talent and investments where we see the greatest opportunities for players and long-term growth."

According to the reports, the letter names what stays and what goes. A planned Sims game code-named Project Lotus is cancelled. Work continues on Apex Legends, Battlefield, the next Star Wars Jedi game and a new Iron Man game. Skate carries on with a smaller team. Respawn and DICE are said to be working together on a new project, which Game Developer says is likely to be another Star Wars: Battlefront, though EA has not confirmed that.

The first big move since EA went private

The cuts come less than three months after EA's sale to an investor group made up of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners was completed on 4 August, in a deal Game Developer puts at $55 billion. Game Informer notes that chief executive Andrew Wilson described the company as entering "this next chapter from a position of strength". When the deal closed, EA staff told Game Developer they had only received "vague reassurances" about the future, and one said it was hard to see how underperforming teams would not be dissolved or sold off.

BioWare was founded in Edmonton in 1995 and bought by EA in 2007. Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins all came in the decade that followed, but its later years were harder. Mass Effect: Andromeda did not earn the praise of the earlier games, Anthem failed as a live service game and was shut down, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, its last release, missed sales expectations. Bloomberg reports that this led EA to cut the studio back sharply last year, leaving a small team on early Mass Effect work.

For players, the practical question is what happens to the older games. None of the reports so far say anything about BioWare's back catalogue, servers or store pages, and EA has not made a public statement beyond the staff letter quoted by Bloomberg.

Sources

Image: Image: Electronic Arts, via GamesIndustry.biz

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