Electronic Arts (EA) is shutting down popular game development studio BioWare as part of a wider company restructuring.
EA executives Cam Weber and David Tinson announced the decision in a memo to employees. They said the gaming industry continues to change quickly. Players now have more choices, while competition between publishers keeps growing.
EA said it wants to focus more resources on its biggest franchises and global gaming communities. The company believes this approach will help its major projects reach their full potential.
‘More than a studio’
BioWare became one of the most respected names in role-playing games. The studio created major franchises such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Baldur’s Gate, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
The studio also became a home for developers, writers and storytellers. Millions of players connected with the characters and worlds created by its teams.
BioWare said the closure was difficult news for its employees and fans. The studio also thanked the people who helped build its games over several generations.
Its games became known for giving players meaningful choices. Fans could shape stories, develop relationships with characters and influence the direction of their adventures.
The studio said its priority now is supporting its talented employees during the transition.
“Mass Effect 5” scrapped
BioWare and EA also revealed that the latest installment of “Mass Effect” has been scrapped.
The publisher said a small BioWare team had been working on early development of “Mass Effect 5,” first announced in 2020, before the company decided not to proceed, leading to the studio’s closure and the shutdown of its Edmonton workspace.
Reports said BioWare allegedly had a trailer ready for “Mass Effect 5” before the studio’s closure.
The canceled game was expected to return to the Milky Way setting hundreds of years after “Mass Effect 3,” following years of teasers about its story and setting.
Despite that, the live-action “Mass Effect” series at Amazon MGM Studios remains in development, with sources inside Prime Video confirming the news.
End of an era
After the shocking update, the video game world united in mourning BioWare’s closure.
Fans and industry veterans stressed how BioWare helped popularize choice-driven game design through its IPs.
Michal Nowakowski, co-CEO of “The Witcher” maker CD Projekt Red, said BioWare had a “massive part” in shaping the Polish game studio’s history.
He also shared how BioWare shared its engine with them for the development of “The Witcher 1.”
CD Projekt Red’s Satoru Homma, producer of “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners,” also shared how BioWare changed his life.
“Without BioWare, ‘Edgerunners’ might not have existed,” he wrote.
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