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BioWare Closure Ends More Than 30 Years of RPG Development
Electronic Arts is closing BioWare, ending more than three decades of RPG development and cancelling the studio’s next Mass Effect project.
BioWare confirmed the news in its official farewell statement, saying early development on the next Mass Effect is ending alongside the closure. The studio had only reiterated in November 2025 that the game remained in development, making the cancellation a definitive end to what had become a sole active project.
The closure forms part of a broader EA restructuring that will eliminate around 400 positions, approximately 3% of the publisher’s workforce, according to Bloomberg’s report on the cuts. Roughly 50 of those jobs are reportedly at BioWare.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Was Studio’s Final Release
Founded in 1995, the studio leaves behind a catalogue that helped shape Western RPGs, including Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
Its final release was Dragon Age: The Veilguard in 2024. While our review found plenty of the classic magic that made the studio’s RPGs so memorable, the game subsequently fell short of EA’s sales expectations.
The studio had already been significantly reduced following The Veilguard, leaving a smaller team focused on the next Mass Effect. BioWare’s closure now leaves both Mass Effect and Dragon Age without an announced development home, with EA yet to detail what happens to either franchise from here.
Some of the people who helped build BioWare’s legacy have since moved elsewhere, including several veterans now working on Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic at Arcanaut Studios.
EA Narrows Its Focus to Fewer Major Projects
EA is reshaping its wider portfolio at the same time. The publisher says it will continue investing heavily in EA Sports and Apex Legends, while future Battlefield games remain in development. Respawn Entertainment and DICE are also collaborating on another shooter project, which Bloomberg reports is likely a new Star Wars: Battlefront, although EA has not confirmed the game’s identity.
Its major action-adventure projects, Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi, remain in production. EA is also continuing with its recently confirmed return of Fight Night. Elsewhere, development on The Sims project codenamed Project Lotus has been paused in favour of Project Evergreen, while the team supporting skate. is being reduced.
For BioWare, however, there is no next project. The studio that spent more than 30 years building worlds around companions, choices and sprawling RPG stories is officially coming to an end.
