BioWare（《质量效应》《KOTOR》《龙腾世纪》背后工作室）将被关闭

It keeps being proven time and time again that a developer’s history and cultural impact has little to no bearing on its ability to not get shut down, something seen with teams like Monolith Productions and Bluepoint Studios. This trend is seemingly not stopping soon, either, as Mass Effect and Dragon Age studio BioWare is just the latest developer to get the boot.

Bloomberg’s latest report explains how EA, despite commitments to do the opposite, is going to slash 400 jobs — 3% of the company — which will include all of BioWare. BioWare, after previously being slashed to ribbons multiple times, only had around 50 core people in it. This means the next Mass Effect, which was announced in 2020, will be canceled, too. According to Bloomberg’s sources, EA chief operating officer David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber said they had “taken a hard look at [the] business” and will kill some projects, implying more than Mass Effect will get the axe. Bloomberg reported one of these canceled titles is a game in the Sims franchise, and while Skate is safe for now, some members of the team will be laid off.

While initially just a reputable report, BioWare came out and confirmed the news on social media. In it, the team said its time after three decades in service was ending along with the aforementioned mysterious Mass Effect game. The statement also thanked fans for making all of this possible.

BioWare’s Shutdown Bodes Poorly for EA

BioWare was first established in 1995 and made its name developing Baldur’s Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in the immediate years after. In 2007 just before the launch of Mass Effect, EA bought the studio.

There were some shaky periods, but Mass Effect and the fantasy series Dragon Age were widely beloved over the PS3 and Xbox 360 era. Mass Effect 3‘s ending riled up some, and Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition were a little divisive — likely results of their widely documented chaotic development schedules — but were also still relatively well received.

Things started to take a turn with 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda, which was riddled with meme-worthy bugs and almost ubiquitously despised from fans and critics alike for its weaker story and lackluster characters. BioWare then moved on to Anthem, a live service shooter that was similarly derided. Players lambasted the game because of its hollow structure and how far it had strayed from BioWare’s strengths, something executive producer Mark Darrah detailed in his extensive YouTube video on the topic. Internal attempts to revitalize the game were halted, and the servers were shut off earlier in 2026.

BioWare did at least earn back some goodwill with 2021’s Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a loving remaster of the first three entries. It served as a reminder of what players loved about the team.

However, that goodwill did not last. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the final released BioWare game, reviewed somewhat well and garnered an average score of 80, but sales were about half of what EA expected. Like the other Dragon Age games, The Veilguard‘s development was turbulent, as it started out as a traditional Dragon Age sequel before being warped into a live service game before once again shifting into the single-player RPG that eventually came out. One of the main problems was that BioWare was not given the freedom to fully reboot after transitioning from a live service game and had to make do with the existing scraps in a record amount of time.

But even though many of these misfires were partly at EA’s behest, the publisher still saw fit to punish the team through massive cuts. BioWare lost 50 members in August 2023 and then many more in early 2025. That second update noted that the team was more “agile” with its lighter staff, but that comes off as corporate speak for justifying layoffs and being forced to make more with less.

These rampant cuts are likely to continue throughout EA in lieu of its leveraged buyout. EA has taken in around $18 billion in debt and has to pay it off somehow. It seems almost inevitable that EA is going almost purely focus on Apex Legends, Battlefield, and sports games in the near future when all the juice has been squeezed from the other types of games it publishes that don’t maximize profits at every turn.

BioWare’s previous massacres and exoduses have led to other studios popping up. Mike Laidlaw, one of BioWare’s notable designers and directors, founded Yellow Brick Games in 2020. The team’s first game was the well-regarded Eternal Strands, an RPG that let players explore a fantasy world and combine elements in a way somewhat reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Casey Hudson, known for his heavy involvement with Mass Effect, established Arcanaut Studios in 2024 and is currently working on Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, a spiritual successor to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Exodus, an RPG that has been consistently been compared to Mass Effect, is being developed by Archetype Entertainment, which is made up of former BioWare developers. Studio Reset and North Mist Studios are also other developers that have been spearheaded by former BioWare talent.

What is your favorite BioWare game? And what other cherished studio is EA going to close next in its insatiable quest for profits? Tell us in the comments.