According to Bloomberg, the closure includes about 50 layoffs at BioWare and sits inside a wider reduction of roughly 400 jobs across EA. It also ends the next Mass Effect game, which BioWare first teased on , a date fans know as N7 Day after a reference in the series’ sci-fi universe.
From Baldur’s Gate to a Rough Decade
The 31-year-old studio built its name on narrative-driven roleplaying games, starting with 1998’s Baldur’s Gate, its sequel, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It moved into original franchises with Jade Empire in 2005, the first Mass Effect in 2007, and Dragon Age: Origins in 2009. Players came for the writing, the detailed characters, and companion arcs that included queer representation.
The last decade was harder on the studio:
- Mass Effect 3 drew intense fan backlash over its ending in 2012
- Mass Effect: Andromeda received a lukewarm reception in 2017
- Anthem, BioWare’s live-service attempt, launched in a flawed state in 2019, and work on its recovery was halted in 2021
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard earned favorable reviews in 2024 but reportedly fell short of EA’s sales expectations
That last point lands in an industry where development cycles keep growing longer and costs keep rising, which leaves little room for a game that is merely well reviewed.
Where EA Says the Money Goes Now
The closure arrives shortly after EA completed its acquisition in August. The buyers were a consortium that includes Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, and the deal was followed by fears of job losses. Saudi Arabia has criminalized homosexuality and transgender expression.
EA’s blog post talks about “deepening” its core sports games, EA Sports FC and Madden NFL, and says the publisher will make disciplined investments that “only scale when they demonstrate real potential.” The franchises it names are Battlefield 6, Marvel’s Iron Man, the next Star Wars Jedi game, The Sims, and Skate. The announcement does not mention any other roleplaying games.
Hashlytics Take
BioWare’s record gives EA plenty of cover, but the more telling detail is Veilguard. It was well reviewed, and the studio was still closed after it. “Only scale when they demonstrate real potential” is a standard that a critically liked but modestly selling RPG does not meet, and the list of surviving franchises is almost entirely sequels, sports titles, and licensed or established brands. The closure reads less like a verdict on BioWare’s recent misses and more like a statement about what EA’s new owners are willing to fund. If you want a mid-budget, story-first RPG from a major publisher, this announcement suggests that is not on EA’s roadmap.
Follow Hashlytics on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn , Telegram and X to Get Instant Updates
