BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, has been shut down after 31 years as parent company Electronic Arts (EA) cuts jobs and restructures its games business.
BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, has been closed down after 31 years.
The Canadian developer was founded in 1995 and became one of the industry’s most celebrated role-playing game studios, building a reputation for complex stories, memorable characters and choices that could dramatically change the course of its games.
Its breakthrough came with Baldur’s Gate in 1998, before BioWare found further success with the Mass Effect trilogy and Dragon Age series during the late 2000s.
Mass Effect in particular became hugely influential thanks to its ambitious storytelling and inclusion of same-sex relationships.
However, BioWare’s recent fortunes have been considerably less successful.
The studio moved towards multiplayer with Anthem in 2019, but the game disappointed both critics and players.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard followed in 2024 after a lengthy development, but failed to meet EA’s sales expectations.
EA has now announced plans to cut 400 jobs across its business, including the closure of BioWare.
The studio had been working on a new Mass Effect game before the closure.
In a statement, BioWare thanked its players for “being the most important part of the story” throughout its 31-year history.
The news prompted an emotional response from BioWare fans and former developers.
Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer, who voiced the female and male versions of Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, addressed the closure during an Instagram livestream.
Hale told fans: “BioWare lives on. Mass Effect lives on. We live on.”
The pair then signed off with Shepard’s famous line: “I should go on.”
CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michał Nowakowski also paid tribute to the studio, saying BioWare had been “a massive part” of the Polish developer’s history and had shared its expertise during the release of Baldur’s Gate in Eastern Europe.
EA said BioWare was “a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre” and stressed that the decision had not been taken lightly.
The closure comes after EA’s $55 billion acquisition by a Saudi Arabia-led investment group, with the company taking on $20 billion in debt as part of the deal.
EA says it will instead focus on fewer large-scale projects, including a new Iron Man game and another Star Wars Jedi title.
It is also continuing work on Skate and The Sims, while cancelling one Sims project and cutting jobs at Skate developer Full Circle.
For BioWare, however, one of gaming’s most influential RPG studios has reached its final chapter.
Mass Effect studio BioWare closed down after 31 years
