Electronic Arts is shutting down BioWare and ending early development on the next Mass Effect, the studio said in a statement on X on October 21, 2026.
BioWare closed its statement with a farewell: “Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.”
The studio was founded in Canada in 1995 by Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk and built the role-playing genre landmarks Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect. EA acquired BioWare in 2007.
About 400 jobs cut, 50 of them at BioWare
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that about 400 EA employees are being laid off, roughly 3% of the company’s workforce, including about 50 at BioWare. Those figures come from Bloomberg’s reporting, not from an EA announcement. In a letter to staff obtained by Bloomberg, EA chief operating officer David Tinson and studios chief Cam Weber wrote: “We’ve made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace.”
The same letter also cancels a Sims franchise project code-named Project Lotus in favor of a project code-named Evergreen, according to the memo.
The first big cut since the buyout
The restructuring is the first sweeping change since EA went private in August 2026, in a $55 billion buyout led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that left the company carrying roughly $18 billion in debt and about $1.8 billion a year in interest payments. EA told investors it would cut $700 million in annual costs, and the layoffs come two months after the buyout.
EA said it will keep investing in sports games, Apex Legends and Battlefield, plus licensed action-adventure projects including the next Star Wars Jedi game and a Marvel Iron Man title. The staff letter calls Battlefield 6 a strong performer for the company and commits EA to years of heavy spending on Apex Legends. Respawn Entertainment and DICE are collaborating on a project Bloomberg reported is likely a new Star Wars Battlefront, though EA has not named it.
BioWare’s last release was 2024’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which earned mostly positive reviews but fell short of EA’s sales expectations. The next Mass Effect was announced in 2020 and never got past teasers; the last new entry in the series, Mass Effect: Andromeda, launched in 2017.
