EA Closes BioWare and Ends Next Mass Effect Development

Electronic Arts is closing BioWare and its Edmonton workspace and ending early development of the next Mass Effect game, the publisher told employees in a letter published on its news site on October 21, 2026. BioWare published its own statement confirming the closure the same day.

The letter, titled Building EA’s Next Chapter, was signed by Cam Weber, EA’s President and Chief Studios Officer, and David Tinson, President and Chief Operating Officer, whose roles are listed on EA’s executives page. The executives wrote that a small team at BioWare had been working on early development for Mass Effect as the company concentrates on larger opportunities.

“We’ve made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace,” the letter said.

The letter called BioWare a legendary studio, credited it with a defining role in the role-playing genre, and said EA did not take the decision lightly.

BioWare’s own statement, posted to the studio’s blog the same day, confirmed that the studio is closing and that early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending. The post names Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Anthem, and describes a studio history spanning more than 30 years.

“There is nothing easy about writing those words,” the studio wrote, saying its immediate focus is on its team and on supporting one another through the transition. The post closed by thanking players, whom the studio called central to its story.

The letter says the decisions followed what the executives described as several months of hard scrutiny of EA’s business and operations and of what leading in the next era of interactive entertainment will require. EA said it will support impacted employees in exploring other opportunities within the company and is committed to treating them with care and respect. Employees with questions were directed to their leaders, and EA said it will discuss its direction and upcoming work at its next Global Town Hall in November.

EA’s Strategic Priorities and Portfolio Choices

Weber and Tinson wrote that EA is focusing its teams, technology, and investment on three strategic priorities. Deepen Our Core centers on the franchises and global communities that made EA a leader in interactive entertainment and is where the letter says the hardest choices were made. Expand Our Reach targets new platforms, markets, and business models, with the letter offering Asia as one example of a region where success requires experiences built around local players and cultures. Transform Our Business covers disciplined investments, built on EA’s interactive-entertainment experience and its sports relationships, in new ways for fans to engage with teams and athletes; the letter says those investments will scale only after demonstrating real potential. The letter describes EA as the number one publisher in Western HD gaming.

In shooters, the letter says Battlefield 6 was a great success and that EA will apply what it learned from the launch and live service across a rebalanced shooter portfolio built for growth. EA said it will bring its Respawn and DICE studios together to collaborate on a future project, and that it plans heavy continued investment in Apex Legends over the next few years, including new multiplayer gameplay modes and other experiences.

The letter describes action-adventure as highly competitive and high-stakes, and says EA remains committed to its two upcoming launches in the genre, Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game. After those, EA will concentrate on fewer simultaneous large-scale projects so that each game in the space is positioned to succeed, the letter said.

EA is fully committed to the global growth of its FC franchise and the wider EA SPORTS portfolio, according to the letter, and has two new projects in development: Project Gridiron, described as a social-first open-world American football experience, and a pre-production project to revive Fight Night that draws on the company’s simulation fighting team.

In its Lifestyle business, EA said it is prioritizing Project Evergreen for The Sims to give the team more time to realize its vision for the game, and is pausing development on Project Lotus to help make that possible. The letter says skate. has succeeded in bringing players into the game and now needs to keep them engaged over the long term, and that EA is restructuring that studio around a smaller team with a defined roadmap for its community, with the stated aim of building a healthier and more sustainable business.

The Next Mass Effect’s Development Timeline

BioWare first disclosed the project on December 10, 2020, writing in a post after The Game Awards that a team within the studio had already begun pre-production on the series’ next chapter. The studio said the accompanying teaser contained hints about its plans and noted that Mass Effect Legendary Edition was coming in spring 2021.

On January 29, 2025, General Manager Gary McKay wrote in a studio update that, with Dragon Age: The Veilguard released, a core team was developing the next Mass Effect under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley. McKay said the project did not require support from the full studio at that stage and that BioWare had spent the preceding months moving many colleagues into open roles on other EA teams. The update referenced the studio’s August 2023 announcement that it was changing how it builds games, and McKay wrote that the changes would leave BioWare more agile and focused.

Most recently, in an N7 Day post on November 7, 2025, Mass Effect Executive Producer Mike Gamble wrote that the next Mass Effect game was in development and reaffirmed EA’s and BioWare’s commitment to future stories in the universe, saying the team was working exclusively on Mass Effect. Gamble also said BioWare was partnering with Amazon on a Mass Effect television series, with a writers room he said was progressing well; the show would be set after the original trilogy and would tell a new story rather than revisit Commander Shepard’s.

BioWare’s History and EA’s Ownership

According to BioWare’s official studio history, BioWare Corp. was founded on February 1, 1995, by medical doctors Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka, and Augustine Yip, who set up in a room in Zeschuk’s basement after Zeschuk and Muzyka programmed medical-education software for the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine. The studio’s first big commercial release was the mech-style game Shattered Steel in October 1996, developed with Calgary subcontractor Pyrotek Game Studios, and its demo drew publisher Interplay Productions, which signed the studio to a multi-game deal.

The studio’s official credits include Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. Electronic Arts acquired BioWare in 2008, and the studio has operated in Edmonton, Alberta, and Austin, Texas.

EA agreed on September 29, 2025, to be acquired by an investor consortium of PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners in an all-cash transaction valuing the company at an enterprise value of approximately $55 billion, according to the consortium agreement announcement. Stockholders were to receive $210 per share in cash, a 25% premium to EA’s unaffected share price of $168.32 at market close on September 25, 2025, with PIF rolling over its existing 9.9% stake. EA characterized the deal as history’s largest all-cash sponsor take-private, with financing comprising an equity investment of approximately $36 billion and $20 billion of debt financing committed by JPMorgan Chase Bank, $18 billion of which was expected to be funded at close.

EA stockholders approved the transaction at a special meeting on December 22, 2025, and the acquisition closed on August 4, 2026, when EA said stockholders would receive $210 in cash for each share owned as of the closing. EA’s common stock has ceased trading and will be delisted from NASDAQ, the completion announcement said.