Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav The legendary studio behind series like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is no more. BioWare announced via social media Wednesday afternoon that “after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.” The official announcement was posted mere minutes after a Bloomberg report detailed 400 job cuts across BioWare parent company Electronic Arts, including 50 at BioWare, based on reports from “a person familiar with the company’s plans.” “Across our portfolio, we’re making deliberate choices to align talent and investments where we see the greatest opportunities for players and long-term growth,” EA executives wrote in a message to staff, according to Bloomberg. A long time coming Following its 1995 founding in Edmonton, Alberta, BioWare first came under the EA umbrella through a 2007 purchase, before Mass Effect and Dragon Age were even a thing. At the time, EA’s then-CEO, John Riccitiello, called BioWare one of “the most respected studios in the industry” that would “make a strong contribution to our strategic growth initiatives on quality, online gaming and developing new intellectual properties.
We also expect this will drive long-term value for our shareholders.” Of course, EA doesn’t have public stockholders anymore after a $55 billion deal led by Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners took the company private last year. At the time of that move, analysts told Ars to expect “layoffs, studio closures, and [selling] of IP” as the newly private and now heavily debt-ridden company put “a bigger focus on live services, more focus on annual sports franchises, [and] microtransactions” to help increase profits. In more recent years, BioWare has also been beset by a number of high-profile departures, including founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk in 2012 and longtime producer Mac Walters in 2023. Executive producer Casey Hudson, who left BioWare in 2014, ended up returning in 2017 before leaving yet again in 2020.
The studio has faced its fair share of troubles following those departures, too, including muted critical and fan receptions for games like Mass Effect Andromeda and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Anthem, the studio’s attempt at a live-service open-world shooter, turned out more ambitious than engaging for most and was recently shuttered for good well after plans for a sweeping overhaul were aborted. “What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember,” the company wrote in its goodbye post. “These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with the characters, and made these worlds your own. From all of us at BioWare, thank you for being the most meaningful part of our story.” Kyle Orland Senior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland Senior Gaming Editor . 111 Comments
