EA is closing the Edmonton studio behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Knights of the Old Republic, about 50 jobs go, and a new Mass Effect is cancelled.
Electronic Arts is closing BioWare, the Edmonton, Alberta, studio that made Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. BioWare confirmed the news on October 21, and the next Mass Effect game, which was in early development, is cancelled.
The closure is part of about 400 job cuts at EA, around 3% of its staff, with roughly 50 at BioWare. It follows the $55 billion deal that took EA private in August and left it with $20 billion of debt. BioWare's recent games struggled: Anthem flopped, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard reached about 1.5 million players at launch, nearly 50% below EA's hopes.
The studio that gave the world Commander Shepard is gone. BioWare, the Canadian developer behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, posted on Wednesday, October 21, that it is closing, and that early work on the next Mass Effect game is ending with it.
If you grew up on these games, this is the end of a 31-year run of role-playing games that shaped how story-heavy games are made. It also says a lot about where Electronic Arts, BioWare’s owner since 2007, is heading now that it is a private company carrying a huge debt. The BioWare shut down is one part of a wider round of cuts, and the rest of the plan tells you which EA games are safe.
EA shut down BioWare as part of a restructuring that cuts about 400 jobs, or roughly 3% of its workforce, with about 50 of those at BioWare itself, according to a Bloomberg report. EA is also closing the studio’s office in Edmonton, Alberta.
The timing follows a change of ownership. A group made up of Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners, the firm run by Jared Kushner, took EA private in a $55 billion deal that closed in August. That deal left the publisher with $20 billion of debt. When the buyout was first announced, analysts warned that layoffs, studio closures and sales of game rights were likely to follow as the new owners chased profit.
In a memo to staff, EA co-presidents Cam Weber and David Tinson called BioWare a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and said the company did not take the decision lightly. EA says it will help affected workers look for other roles inside the company.
BioWare’s slide started long before this week. The studio was founded in Edmonton in 1995 by three medical doctors from the University of Alberta: Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip. Its early hits were licensed games, including Baldur’s Gate in 1998, its sequel, Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic.
Then came its own worlds: Jade Empire (2005), then Dragon Age: Origins (2009), two years after Mass Effect first put players in Shepard’s boots in 2007. Fans loved the writing and the companion characters, many of whom players could romance, and the studio built a loyal following for its LGBTQ characters.
The run of trouble is easy to trace:
Along the way, most of the people who made the classic games left. After Veilguard, EA trimmed BioWare to a small team working mainly on the next Mass Effect. That project was the studio’s last lifeline, and it has now been cut.
For players, the short answer is that there is no new Mass Effect or Dragon Age on the way from the team that made them. BioWare first teased the next Mass Effect on Nov. 7, 2020, the date fans celebrate as N7 Day, an in-game reference. This year’s N7 Day is just over two weeks away, which has made the news sting even more on social media.
EA still owns both series, so they are not legally dead. A big publisher can hand a famous name to another studio, or license it out, years later. Nothing EA has said so far points to that, though, and its list of priorities skips role-playing games entirely.
A few practical points if you own BioWare games:
The rest of EA’s plan shows where its money is going. The company says it will keep investing in Battlefield and Apex Legends, which has more multiplayer modes coming. Respawn and DICE are teaming up on a new shooter, and a separate report says that game is Star Wars: Battlefront 3, though EA hasn’t confirmed the name.
In action games, EA says that after Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game it will work on fewer large projects at the same time. EA Sports is reviving the Fight Night boxing series, and its American football team is building what EA calls a social-first, open-world experience.
Not everyone outside BioWare escapes. Full Circle, the studio behind Skate, which has been in early access since September last year, is being cut down to a smaller team. At Maxis, maker of The Sims, a project code-named Project Lotus is paused so more staff can work on another one called Project Evergreen.
BioWare’s closure fits a pattern that has hit the whole industry since the pandemic boom ended. Tens of thousands of game developers have lost their jobs, and studios have shut at a steady pace. Big games now take five years or more to make, so each one has to sell millions of copies to pay its way. When one misses, as Veilguard did, the studio behind it is exposed.
Private ownership was supposed to free EA from the pressure of a quarterly share price. So far, the debt from the deal appears to be pushing the other way, toward live-service games, yearly sports titles and in-game spending. EA says it will share more about its upcoming projects over the next few months.
Yes. BioWare confirmed on social media on October 21 that it is closing, and EA is shutting the studio’s Edmonton office.
Yes. The next Mass Effect, which was in early development, has been cancelled along with the studio. EA still owns the series.
About 400 across the company, roughly 3% of its staff, with around 50 at BioWare, according to a Bloomberg report.
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