Legendary RPG studio BioWare has become the latest victim of Electronic Arts’ spree of layoffs, as the studio is now closing its doors after 30 years, cancelling the development of Mass Effect 5 and marking the end of an era for the sci-fi shooter franchise.
As reported by Bloomberg, BioWare’s closure comes amid a wave of layoffs at EA, which saw 400 job cuts, with roughly 50 of them being BioWare personnel. “For more than 30 years, BioWare has been more than a studio. It has been a home for storytellers, developers, and the players who brought our worlds to life,” read a post on the studio’s social media pages to break the news. “Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.”
Known for franchises like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect, BioWare was often hailed as one of the greatest storytellers in gaming back in its heyday, but recent releases failed to reach the high standards of its predecessors. Following the highly successful original Mass Effect trilogy, the studio went on to release Mass Effect Andromeda in 2017 to mixed reception. The studio then tried to enter the live-service market with 2019’s Anthem, but that underperformed as well, with the game being shut down in early 2026. Finally, the sequel to the hit fantasy RPG franchise, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, launched in 2024, but was too much of a departure from the darker, more mature themes of the original franchise, meaning it failed to resonate with fans.
The shuttering of BioWare is an even bigger blow, considering the team was hard at work developing the next entry in the Mass Effect series, which would have been set hundreds of years after the events of 2012’s Mass Effect 3 and would have seen a return to the Milky Way setting. Fans had hoped that this entry would be a return to form for the franchise, but now they will never see the legacy of Commander John Shepard.
With BioWare’s closure, EA will now focus on its sports titles, its Battlefield franchise, and Respawn’s Apex Legends, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, as these are the studio’s biggest money-makers. Action-adventure franchises like the upcoming Star Wars: Jedi sequel and Motive’s Marvel’s Iron Man game are still in the works, but the studio notes that fans should expect “fewer simultaneous, large-scale projects” like these.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
