Electronic Arts Closing BioWare, Laying Off Hundreds

Published: October 21, 2026, 1:40 pm Last updated: October 21, 2026, 1:42 pm | Electronic Arts is shutting down renowned Canadian studio BioWare, Bloomberg reported Wednesday . Four hundred jobs will be cut, which is around 3% of Electronic Arts' staff; fifty of those jobs were from BioWare alone, per the report.

BioWare was reportedly working on the next Mass Effect game, which has been canceled, Bloomberg reported, citing an interal memo to staff from Electronic Arts chief operating officer David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber. BioWare confirmed the studio closure in a post on X shortly after Bloomberg's report was published. pic.twitter.com/TicSujMWps — BioWare (@bioware) October 21, 2026 "Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending," BioWare wrote in the post.

"There is nothing easy about writing those words. Our focus riht now is on our incredibly talented team who put their hearts into these games, and supporting one another through this transition." Electronic Arts is also canceling a The Sims game called Project Lotus, instead pivoting toward another game currently called Project Evergreen.

Electronic Arts will focus on its sports games, Apex Legends , and its licensed IP projects like Iron Man and the next iteration of Star Wars Jedi . Bloomberg reported that Electronic Arts will also pursue the Battlefield franchise, and that Respawn and DICE are working on a new project, "which is likely to be another entry in the Star Wars: Battlefront series." Electronic Arts was taken private in August in a $55 billion buyout; the Saudi Arabian government's investment fund led that purchase.

The deal left $18 billion in debt on the company's books. Electronic Arts told its investors earlier this year it would cut costs, saving up to $700 million, per Bloomberg , by slashing its research and development budget. BioWare was once one of the industry's most iconic studios, known for the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, as well as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Baldur's Gate .

It was founded more than three decades ago, in 1995, by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. The company was acquired by Electronic Arts, along with Pandemic Studios, in 2007 for $775 million . BioWare has struggled in recent years to match the success of its earlier games.

Anthem , its multiplayer shooter released in 2019, failed to meet expectations and was ultimately shut down in 2025 . Dragon Age: Veilguard , released in 2024, similarly struggled to meet Electronic Arts' expectations. It was after that game's release where Electronic Arts started to pull apart BioWare, shuffling employees to other studios and laying off others.

By 2025, fewer than 100 employees remained at the company. Nicole Carpenter Nicole Carpenter is a reporter who's been covering the video game industry and its culture for more than 10 years. She lives in New England with a horde of Pokémon Squishmallows.

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