EA Shuts Down BioWare and Cancels Next Mass Effect Game

Electronic Arts, also called EA, has shut down BioWare, the game studio behind many well-known role-playing games. According to PC Gamer, the next Mass Effect game has also been cancelled. Bloomberg reports that EA is cutting around 400 jobs across the company.

BioWare was founded in 1995 by doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip. The studio was responsible for the original Baldur's Gate games, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series. Electronic Arts acquired BioWare in 2007.

The Mass Effect trilogy and the first Dragon Age games made BioWare a mainstream RPG powerhouse. Role-playing games, or RPGs, are games where players take on the part of a character and make choices that shape the story.

Not every release reached the same level of success. Mass Effect: Andromeda came out in 2017 and was not as well received as the original trilogy. Anthem was released in 2019 and failed to catch on. Its servers were shut down earlier this year.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was released in 2024 and underperformed, according to EA. The company's own letter about the studio was signed by chief studios officer Cam Weber and COO David Tinson.

The next Mass Effect game was first teased in 2020. In 2025, BioWare said a core team was working on it after layoffs at the studio. That work has now ended with the game's cancellation.

EA was announced last year to be acquired by a consortium including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. The acquisition was finalized this August.