News / NexusArc

EA Is Closing BioWare and Canceling the Next Mass Effect

BioWare and its Edmonton workspace are closing. The next Mass Effect project is canceled, while Bloomberg reports wider job cuts across EA.

By NexusArc Staff Published Oct 21, 2026 366 words

Official Dragon Age: The Veilguard artwork, used to illustrate BioWare’s game-making history. Image: Electronic Arts / BioWare.

Electronic Arts is closing BioWare and canceling the next Mass Effect project. The publisher and the studio announced the decision on October 21, ending work on a game that EA says was still in early development.

In its public message about the changes, EA said a small BioWare team had been developing the project and that it had decided not to continue. That decision also means closing the studio and its Edmonton workspace. BioWare's own statement confirms both the closure and the end of early development on the next Mass Effect.

What this means for Mass Effect

The announced project is not moving forward. Neither statement announces a replacement developer or a new version of that game, and neither gives a final operating date for BioWare.

That is different from a declaration that the Mass Effect franchise can never return. The announcements concern this development project and the studio. They do not announce delistings or server shutdowns for existing games.

Job cuts and EA's priorities

Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier reports that EA is cutting around 400 jobs companywide, including roughly 50 at BioWare, citing a person familiar with the plans. Those are reported figures; EA's public message does not provide a headcount.

EA frames the changes as a decision about where to concentrate its teams and investment. Its message identifies sports games, Battlefield, Apex Legends, Marvel's Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game among its continuing priorities. It also says it will help affected employees explore other roles within EA, which is not a guarantee of another position.

More than three decades of RPGs

BioWare's official Edmonton history dates the studio's founding to early 1995. Its work includes the original Baldur's Gate games, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, alongside its own Dragon Age and Mass Effect series.

Those games made party members, dialogue and consequential choices central to BioWare's identity. Its farewell focuses on the people who built those worlds and the players who made them their own. For context on one of the studio's later releases, NexusArc's Dragon Age: The Veilguard review examines its approach to combat, companions and role-playing.