Electronic Arts is closing BioWare. The company confirmed on October 21 that it has ended early development on the next Mass Effect game, and that the decision means shutting the studio along with its Edmonton workspace. It is one of the most consequential studio closures the industry has seen: BioWare is the team behind Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and it has been making role-playing games in Edmonton for three decades.
What EA actually said
The news came in a letter to EA employees, titled "Building EA's Next Chapter", which the company also published on its own news site. It is signed by Cam and David: EA's chief studios officer Cam Weber and chief operating officer David Tinson. The letter sets out three company-wide priorities, which it calls Deepen Our Core, Expand Our Reach and Transform Our Business. It says the company has spent several months taking "a hard look" at how it operates, and that focusing on its biggest opportunities meant "saying no to some things we're passionate about."
BioWare comes up in the action-adventure section. EA describes action-adventure as one of the most competitive genres in the industry, and says that beyond its two big upcoming launches, Marvel's Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game, it will concentrate on fewer large-scale projects at the same time. In that context, the letter says a small team at BioWare had been working on early development for Mass Effect, and that EA has decided not to move forward with it, "which means we're closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace." It calls BioWare "a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre" and says the decision was not taken lightly.
BioWare also posted a statement of its own on its official X account, confirming that early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.
The Mass Effect that won't be
The next Mass Effect was first teased in December 2020, with a short clip that showed a figure in N7 armour and hinted at a link between the original trilogy and Andromeda. BioWare followed up with small, cryptic teasers on N7 Day in the years after that, but never showed gameplay, gave a title, or offered a release window. It never got past early development, and now it won't.
For fans, that makes the 2021 Mass Effect Legendary Edition the last new Mass Effect product BioWare released. The remastered trilogy, which bundled Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 with nearly all of their DLC, is still sold on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. The letter doesn't say what happens to the Mass Effect name itself. EA still owns the IP, and nothing in the letter rules out the series coming back some day under another team. But the studio that built the universe will no longer be the one to continue it.
How BioWare got here
Doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip founded BioWare in Edmonton in 1995. Its early run of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic made it one of the most respected names in Western RPGs, and Mass Effect and Dragon Age turned it into one of the biggest. EA acquired the studio in 2007.
The last decade was harder. Mass Effect: Andromeda landed poorly in 2017, and the online looter shooter Anthem launched in 2019, struggled from the start, and had its servers shut down in early 2026. Dragon Age: The Veilguard released in October 2024 and turned out to be the studio's final game. Early in 2025, EA reorganised BioWare into a smaller core team dedicated to Mass Effect and moved other developers to different EA studios. Today's letter ends that last remaining project.
The rest of EA's shake-up
BioWare is the headline, but it isn't the only change in the letter. In shooters, EA calls Battlefield 6 a great success and says it is bringing Respawn and DICE together to collaborate on a future project, without saying what that project is. It also commits to investing heavily in Apex Legends over the next few years, with new multiplayer modes and other new experiences.
EA Sports is described as operating from a position of strength. The letter names two new projects due to be revealed over the coming months: "Project Gridiron", a social-first open-world American football experience, and a revival of Fight Night, which is now in pre-production and builds on the work of EA's simulation fighting team.
The Sims changes too. EA is prioritising "Project Evergreen", the next big Sims project, and pausing development on "Project Lotus" to free up resources for it. For skate., the free-to-play skateboarding game, EA says it is restructuring the studio into a smaller, more focused team working to a clear community roadmap.
What happens to the people
The letter acknowledges that some of these decisions will directly affect people across the company. It says EA will help affected employees explore other roles within EA, and will discuss the company's direction at its next global town hall in November. EA did not include a total for the job cuts in the published letter.
For players, the practical result is simple. There is no new Mass Effect in development at BioWare, and there is no BioWare anymore. Its games remain available, and the Mass Effect and Dragon Age names stay with EA, but the studio that built both universes is closing after thirty-one years.
