It’s a dark day in gaming. Electronic Arts has decided to close BioWare, the studio behind popular titles including Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
BioWare tweeted the news today, noting the studio has been around for over 30 years. Work had already begun on a new entry in the Mass Effect series, but BioWare has been forced to pull the plug. EA also confirmed the news as it embarks on a major shake-up, prioritizing its most popular gaming franchises, including Battlefield and EA Sports.
”As we focus on these larger opportunities, we’ve had a small team at BioWare working on early development for Mass Effect. We’ve made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace,” EA’s leaders, Cam Weber and David Tinson, wrote in a memo that was also publicly released.
According to Bloomberg, EA is also cutting about 400 jobs, or 3% of total staff. About 50 people were working at BioWare, which was acquired in 2007. The studio’s last major title was Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which received generally positive reviews from critics, but also faced controversy over the game allegedly being “woke.”
EA ownership changed in August, when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, private equity firm Silver Lake, and the Jared Kushner-founded Affinity Partners closed their acquisition of the game publisher.
In their memo, Weber and Tinson justified the shake-up, saying, “Our industry is changing quickly. Players have more choices than ever for their time and attention, competition is intensifying, and some of our biggest opportunities for growth are beyond the markets, platforms, and business models where EA has traditionally been the strongest.”
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Another significant change involves merging the Respawn and DICE game studios to focus on a future first-person shooter. “We’re also continuing to invest heavily in Apex (Legends) over the next few years by introducing brand new gameplay modes in multiplayer, and other new experiences, to expand the universe,” the memo says.
EA is also preparing for the upcoming Marvel’s Iron Man and a new Star Wars Jedi game, and wants to tap the long-term potential of The Sims and Skate franchises. “Saying no to some things we’re passionate about allows us to focus our teams and resources so we give our biggest opportunities everything they need to succeed,” Weber and Tinson added.
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I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
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