BioWare shared a short post on its X blog on October 21 (ed. formerly known as Twitter). The post announced that the studio was being shut down and work on the next Mass Effect game had been halted. This marked the end of the studio founded 31 years ago in Edmonton by three doctor friends.
A week has passed since this news, so I do not want to write about it as news. Everyone has already read the numbers. As they say, everyone has seen what there was to see. I want to write this as a farewell to a friend we knew, because BioWare was that kind of friend for many of us. We read dialogue for hours in its games and argued with our companions. Sometimes, after making a choice, we would put down the controller and think for a while.
According to official information, EA is laying off approximately 400 employees. That represents around 3 percent of the company’s entire workforce. Approximately 50 of them worked at BioWare. In a studio that once employed hundreds of people, only 50 remained in the end. I think that alone shows that something was going wrong. Honestly, I do not know whether this was BioWare’s problem or the result of the same economic approach continuing throughout the game industry.
The RPG School Founded by Doctors
BioWare was founded in 1995 by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. All three were doctors and began making games in their spare time. Baldur's Gate, released in 1998, gave computer role-playing games a new direction. Neverwinter Nights followed, and in 2003 came Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Many people still consider KOTOR the best Star Wars story, even better than the films. (ed. Although I do not think so, I cannot deny that it has a very compelling storyline.
But the game that made BioWare the BioWare everyone knew was Mass Effect. The trilogy began in 2007. Players controlled a predefined hero, and the choices they made continued across all three games. At the same time, the game did almost everything right when it came to building a connection between the character and the player. For example, if you had saved someone in the first game, that person would appear before you in the third game. This seems ordinary to us today, but at the time, very few studios could do it. Dragon Age: Origins, released in 2009, did the same thing in a fantasy world.
What people remember from BioWare games is less the combat than the conversations and the stories discovered through those conversations. Garrus’s calibration joke, talking with Alistair by the campfire, or walking around the Normandy and speaking with everyone, for example. Companion characters had their own opinions and histories. Sometimes they objected to your decisions, and they were right to do so. Many major RPGs today, such as Baldur's Gate 3, bear the mark of this approach.
19 Years with EA, or Stockholm Syndrome
EA acquired BioWare in 2007. Everything went well in the early years: Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition were both released during the EA era. Many people use this as an example when arguing that EA actually benefited the company. But the foundations of these projects had already been laid before EA became involved. EA simply became a partner in the profits. During that period, it added nothing to BioWare. The problems began later. In 2012, the studio’s founders left the company. In the following years, experienced figures such as Casey Hudson, Mark Darrah, and Mac Walters also departed. The studio gradually lost its experienced staff.
After that, three major and expensive games failed one after another. Mass Effect: Andromeda, released in 2017, was poorly received. Anthem followed in 2019, and EA’s wishes were clear here. The publisher wanted a studio known for story-driven games to make an online game that would generate revenue continuously. BioWare failed to do this because that was not its strength. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, released in 2024, sold approximately 1.5 million copies in its first quarter. According to EA’s own statement, this figure was approximately 50 percent below expectations. Afterward, in 2025, most of the people working at the studio were laid off.
That is why the shutdown was not unexpected. It is like hearing that someone who had been ill for a long time has died. You grieve, but you are not surprised.
So who was responsible for these failures? I think both sides were at fault. BioWare itself had serious problems, as the reports about Anthem’s development showed. But the publisher that forced a story-focused studio into a genre it did not understand well, then punished it for the result, also bears significant responsibility.
The $55 Billion Bill
This shutdown cannot be considered separately from the changes EA made this year. In August, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, together with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, acquired EA for $55 billion, and the company was delisted from the stock exchange. This is considered the largest leveraged buyout in history. As a result, the company’s debt increased by approximately $18 billion. At a company acquired through debt, every expense is reviewed again, while lengthy and risky projects are the first to be cut.
EA’s explanation also aligns with this. According to the company, competition for players’ time has increased. EA also announced which projects it was keeping: sports games, Apex Legends, the new Star Wars Jedi game, and Marvel’s Iron Man game. A project called Project Lotus, being developed for The Sims, was also canceled. In other words, the money is going either to games sold every year or to games with recognizable licenses.
The industry’s overall situation is no different. Layoff reports have become commonplace over the past few years. When a game fails, studios shut down. To be honest, studios now shut down even when games succeed. In such an environment, defending a 100-hour, expensive story game with an uncertain outcome is the hardest task. Interestingly, during those same years, Baldur's Gate 3 achieved major success by following BioWare’s old path. So players still want these kinds of games. There are simply fewer publishers willing to make them.
What Changes for Us
BioWare games also had another meaning for us. These games were not translated into our language, and most of the text consisted of dialogue. Many of us first learned English seriously while playing Mass Effect and Dragon Age, with a dictionary beside us. For players of my generation, BioWare truly was a school.
The main question now is the fate of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. The series remain with EA, but the company has not said anything about them yet. David Gaider, Dragon Age’s former lead writer, believes that releasing a new game under EA’s leadership will be difficult. Perhaps one day these series will return in the hands of another team. But that game will no longer be a BioWare game, because the people who created BioWare left long ago.
What remains for us are the games. They are still in our libraries, and Mass Effect Legendary Edition is still available for purchase. For those who have not yet played the trilogy, this week is a good time to start.