The developer behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age is shutting down. Reports suggest around 400 jobs will be cut across EA, including approximately 50 at BioWare.
BioWare is closing. The Edmonton developer behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is being shut down after 31 years, and the next Mass Effect game has been cancelled.
Electronic Arts announced the decision on Wednesday, 21 October 2026. In an internal message published by the company, executives said BioWare had a small team working on the game in early development. EA will no longer continue that work and is closing both the studio and its Edmonton workspace.
BioWare followed with its own farewell message, thanking the people who played its games, argued over difficult choices and grew attached to its characters. It is an ending that few fans of the studio’s sprawling role-playing worlds would have wanted.
The next Mass Effect is cancelled, but the series’ future is unclear
The project had been on fans’ radar since its reveal at The Game Awards in December 2020. The teaser offered a glimpse of a return to the Mass Effect universe, but BioWare never announced a release date or a final title.
In January 2025, the developer said veterans of the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts and Parrish Ley, were leading its core development team. Other staff had moved to roles elsewhere at EA following the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
BioWare was still publicly committed to the project on N7 Day in November 2025. That makes today’s cancellation especially stark: the studio is closing before players ever had the chance to see a finished game.
EA has cancelled this project. It has not announced that the Mass Effect name is being retired for good, and it has not identified another team taking over development. The future of Dragon Age is likewise uncertain; no permanent cancellation of that franchise has been confirmed.
Around 400 EA jobs reportedly affected
The closure is part of a wider restructuring. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that EA plans to cut around 400 positions, approximately 3% of its workforce, with roughly 50 of those jobs at BioWare. The figures come from a person familiar with the plans, not a published headcount in EA’s announcement.
EA says it will support affected employees in exploring other opportunities within the company. How many people will be able to move into other jobs remains unknown.
The timing also follows EA’s change of ownership. A consortium involving Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners completed its $55 billion acquisition on 4 August 2026. EA has not said the takeover alone caused BioWare’s closure, so it would be wrong to present that link as established fact.
Star Wars Jedi and Iron Man survive EA’s reshuffle
EA’s plans do still include the next Star Wars Jedi game and Marvel’s Iron Man. Both remain in development, although the publisher says it will tackle fewer big action-adventure projects simultaneously.
There is a change in the shooter division, too. Respawn Entertainment and DICE will collaborate on a future project, but EA has not named it. Given DICE’s history with the franchise, fans will inevitably wonder about Star Wars Battlefront 3. There is no official announcement of that game. Our long-term Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II review revisits the two modern releases without pretending a sequel is confirmed.
Battlefield and Apex Legends remain priorities. EA is also pausing Project Lotus while concentrating on Project Evergreen for The Sims, and reducing the size of the team working on skate. Those are separate decisions within the same company-wide reshuffle.
BioWare made RPG choices feel personal
BioWare’s reputation was built on games that gave conversations and decisions as much weight as combat. Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights became landmarks for PC role-playing fans. Knights of the Old Republic brought a different kind of Star Wars adventure to Xbox, while Jade Empire showed that BioWare could create a world with its own identity.
Then came Mass Effect, where the Normandy’s crew, their loyalties and the consequences of Commander Shepard’s decisions became the heart of a science-fiction trilogy. Dragon Age built its own following through political intrigue, uneasy alliances and companions that players still talk about years later. These were worlds people returned to because they cared what happened to the characters.
The studio’s later years were less settled. Anthem struggled, and EA said Dragon Age: The Veilguard fell short of its engagement expectations. Those disappointments are part of BioWare’s history, but EA has not identified any single game’s performance as the sole explanation for today’s closure.
Tech Torque Verdict
The cancellation of Mass Effect is disappointing, particularly after six years of teasers and updates. But the loss goes beyond one unfinished game. BioWare helped define what players expect from story-led RPGs: companions worth knowing, decisions with consequences and adventures that stayed with you after the credits.
The immediate concern is for the people losing their jobs. EA will carry on making major games, including Star Wars Jedi, but a famous studio name and the creative continuity behind it cannot simply be replaced by another entry on a release schedule.
The next Mass Effect is cancelled. What, if anything, EA eventually does with that universe is still an open question.
