EA closes BioWare and ends development of the next Mass Effect

Electronic Arts has confirmed that it will close BioWare and the studio’s workspace in Edmonton, Canada, while ending early development of the next Mass Effect. The publisher and studio announced the decision on October 21, 2026, bringing more than three decades of work by the team associated with Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect to an end.

The decision was not described as a pause. In a message to employees, EA said a small team had still been working on the new Mass Effect, but that the project would not move forward. BioWare separately confirmed that the studio is closing and early development of the game is ending. No transfer of that project to another studio has been announced.

A portfolio shift, not the end of every narrative game

EA framed the restructuring as a strategy to concentrate teams, technology and investment behind fewer opportunities. In action-adventure, the company will continue Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi while reducing the number of simultaneous large-scale productions. That distinction matters: BioWare’s closure ends a historic center for narrative role-playing games, but it does not mean the publisher has abandoned every single-player or story-led title.

Other divisions are changing as well. Respawn and DICE will collaborate on a future project, EA said it will continue investing in Apex Legends, and the company mentioned new projects connected to American football and Fight Night. In The Sims portfolio, the publisher will prioritize Project Evergreen and pause Project Lotus. The skate. team will become smaller and work toward a more focused roadmap.

The overall picture is of a publisher choosing scale and predictability instead of maintaining many large projects at once. That is an editorial inference from the corporate announcement; EA describes the move as a push for clearer priorities, faster decisions and sustainable growth. The company also said it would help affected employees explore other opportunities inside EA.

Reported layoff numbers require caution

Bloomberg reported that the restructuring includes roughly 400 job cuts, equal to about 3% of EA’s workforce, with approximately 50 positions at BioWare. Reuters, the Associated Press and The Verge published the figures while attributing them to the report and people familiar with the plans. EA did not provide that total in its public statement, so the figures should not be presented as an official company count.

BioWare was founded in 1995 and acquired by EA in 2007. Its catalog helped establish dialogue choices, character relationships and narrative consequences as defining features of modern role-playing games. The closure therefore has two different effects: an immediate one, involving lost jobs and a project that had already begun, and a longer-term one, removing a studio with a distinct creative identity from EA’s structure.

Franchises must also be separated from teams. Dragon Age and Mass Effect remain EA properties, and the announcement does not say that they can never return. The confirmed fact is narrower: BioWare is closing and the Mass Effect project under development will not continue. Any prediction about a future revival under a different team would be speculation.