Electronic Arts is shutting down BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. EA is cutting about 400 jobs across the company, roughly 3% of its workforce, including around 50 at BioWare. The next Mass Effect game, which was in early development, has been cancelled.
BioWare confirmed the news on X on Wednesday, October 21, saying that “after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing.” Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier first reported the cuts.
These are the first major layoffs since a Saudi-led group took EA private in August. More may follow.
What EA is cutting
The news came in a staff letter from EA chief operating officer David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber. They wrote that “over the past several months, we’ve taken a hard look at our business,”
| Area | What happens |
|---|---|
| BioWare | Closing, Edmonton workspace shut down |
| Next Mass Effect | Cancelled in early development |
| The Sims “Project Lotus” | Paused, resources moved to “Project Evergreen” |
| skate. | Development continues with a smaller team |
| EA overall | About 400 jobs cut, roughly 3% of staff |
The Mass Effect project won’t move to another EA studio. EA said only a small team at BioWare had been working on it.
What EA is keeping
EA says it will keep investing where it sees the biggest growth. That list is long and mostly familiar.
- EA Sports: the sports lineup, plus the just-announced return of Fight Night
- Apex Legends and Battlefield
- Star Wars Jedi and Marvel’s Iron Man
- A new game from DICE and Respawn, which Insider Gaming says could be the rumoured Star Wars Battlefront 3
What it means for EA’s esports games
For competitive players, the short answer is: nothing changes yet. Apex Legends, EA Sports FC and Battlefield are all on the list EA says it will keep funding.
That’s not a guarantee forever. Insider Gaming reports more cuts are expected over the next 12 to 18 months, so teams and organisers will be watching closely.
For now, the cuts hit single-player RPGs and The Sims, not the live-service and sports games that power EA’s competitive scene. Our EA Sports FC 27 launch update covers where FC stands.
Why EA is doing this now
A group led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, completed its $55 billion takeover of EA on August 4, 2026. It’s the largest leveraged buyout on record.
About $18 billion to $20 billion of that was debt, now on EA’s own books. Bloomberg reported in August that EA had told debt investors it planned around $700 million in annual cost savings.
BioWare had been a likely target for a while. Insider Gaming reported last year that staff feared for the studio, and that EA had explored selling it before deciding to close it.
How BioWare got here
BioWare was founded in Edmonton in the mid-1990s and joined EA in 2007. It made some of the most loved RPGs ever, including Baldur’s Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
The last decade was rough. Anthem struggled and was shut down earlier this year, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard missed EA’s sales expectations after its late-2024 launch.
BioWare was cut down to a small team in early 2025 to focus on the next Mass Effect. That game is now gone too. Star Wars: The Old Republic carries on, run by developer Broadsword.
A brutal year for game jobs
EA isn’t alone. Microsoft cut jobs across Xbox and Activision in September, as we covered in our reports on the Xbox studio layoffs and the Activision and Halo cuts.
EA itself cut staff three times this year before the buyout closed. BioWare is the biggest name to go so far.
What happens to Mass Effect and Dragon Age?
EA still owns both series. It hasn’t said what it plans to do with them, and nothing suggests existing games will be pulled from sale.
With the studio gone and the next Mass Effect cancelled, there’s no new game from either series in development as far as anyone has reported. We’ll update this story if EA says otherwise.
