Electronic Arts is closing BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the next Mass Effect game is canceled with it. BioWare confirmed the news on X on October 21, 2026, and the closure is part of about 400 layoffs across EA.
If you have replayed the Mass Effect trilogy more than once, the BioWare closing is a real loss. What is less clear is whether the franchises themselves have a future, because neither EA nor BioWare has said.
TL;DR: EA is shutting down BioWare after more than 30 years and has canceled the next Mass Effect, which was in early development. Bloomberg reports about 400 jobs are being cut across EA, roughly 3% of its workforce, including around 50 at BioWare. EA has not said what happens to Mass Effect or Dragon Age. The cuts arrive less than three months after EA’s $55 billion sale closed.
What EA and BioWare have confirmed about the BioWare closing
BioWare’s official X account said the studio “is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.” The post added that the team’s focus right now is supporting one another through the transition.
The wider numbers come from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who reviewed a staff letter from EA chief operating officer David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber. The letter says EA spent several months taking a hard look at its business before making these cuts.
| Item | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| BioWare studio | Closing | BioWare on X |
| Next Mass Effect game | Canceled, was in early development | BioWare on X |
| Jobs cut across EA | About 400, roughly 3% of the workforce | Bloomberg |
| Jobs cut at BioWare | About 50 | Bloomberg |
| Sims project Project Lotus | Canceled | Bloomberg |
| Skate team | Downsized | Bloomberg |
| Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises | No announcement | None yet |
Only two rows in that table come straight from BioWare itself. The rest rest on Bloomberg’s reading of an internal letter, so treat the exact job counts as reported figures, not company statements, until EA publishes its own.
Those cuts did not stop at one studio, which is where the rest of the letter gets interesting.
What else EA cut, and what it is keeping
Beyond BioWare, EA canceled a Sims game codenamed Project Lotus and is shrinking the team working on Skate. The letter, as reported, says EA will keep investing in its sports games, Apex Legends, Battlefield and the next Star Wars Jedi game.
Big annual and live franchises stay, while a studio built around story focused single player games does not. That pattern says more about EA’s priorities than the memo’s careful wording does.
It also explains why the timing of all this is getting attention.
Why the timing is hard to ignore
A consortium of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners closed its $55 billion purchase of EA in August 2026, per the companies’ joint announcement. BioWare is the first major studio closure since.
The reported parts of the letter do not mention the new owners, and nothing published so far says the sale caused this decision. EA frames it as the result of a business review. Fans will keep connecting the two anyway, and EA has not addressed that directly.
What is still unknown about Mass Effect and Dragon Age
EA has not announced a plan for the Mass Effect or Dragon Age franchises beyond canceling the next Mass Effect game. Neither BioWare’s statement nor the reported letter says whether either series continues elsewhere in EA.
Two practical questions are also open. The announcements do not say when the studio’s doors close, and they do not address support for BioWare’s existing games, the most recent being Dragon Age: The Veilguard from 2024.
If you own those games, nothing reported so far suggests they stop working today. That is an absence of information, though, not a promise.
For players, the practical effect today is simple. There is no new Mass Effect coming from this team, and the studio that made the series will not be around to make another. Anything more specific than that has not been confirmed.
The part that will take longest to answer
A studio can close in a day, but a franchise decision takes far longer. What EA chooses to do with Mass Effect and Dragon Age will tell you more about this move than any letter to staff.
For now, the best places to watch are BioWare’s X account and EA’s own newsroom. Anything beyond that, including a sale of the properties or a new team, is speculation until EA says so.
