EA shuts down BioWare, maker of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and lays off about 3% of staff

Electronic Arts is shutting down BioWare, the Canadian studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and laying off about 3% of its global workforce, according to a memo to staff on Wednesday 21 October 2026 that Variety published in full. EA last reported 14,500 employees, so the cuts affect around 400 people, Variety calculated.

What EA is closing

The memo, from studios president Cam Weber and COO David Tinson, says EA decided to stop development of a new Mass Effect game and will close BioWare's office in Edmonton. "BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly," they wrote.

EA is also pausing "Project Lotus" for The Sims to focus on "Project Evergreen", and cutting the Skate. team to a smaller group.

What EA is keeping and starting

• Battlefield 6, which the memo calls "a great success", gets future titles.
• Respawn and DICE will work together on a new project. Variety's sources say it is Star Wars: Battlefront 3 for Lucasfilm.
• Apex Legends keeps heavy investment, with new modes planned.
• Marvel's Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game remain on track.
• At EA Sports, Fight Night is in pre-production after a 15-year break, and a new open-world American football game called Project Gridiron is in development. More details are due over the next few months.

Why now

This is EA's first major move since it went private. On 4 August EA closed its sale to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners in an all-cash deal valued at $55 billion (about Rs 15.2 trillion at today's dollar rate). The memo says the company is focusing on its biggest franchises and on growth in new markets, naming Asia as one region where it wants games built for local players.

For gamers in Pakistan

Nothing changes for games you already own: Mass Effect and Dragon Age titles stay on sale on Steam, PlayStation and Xbox. EA FC, Apex Legends and Battlefield, the EA games most played here, are untouched. For Fight Night fans, EA had already confirmed the boxing series is coming back; the memo confirms it is in pre-production, with no release date yet.