Electronic Arts is closing BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Baldur’s Gate, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and it is ending early development on the next Mass Effect. The publisher announced both decisions on October 21, 2026 in an internal memo published as “Building EA’s Next Chapter,” and BioWare posted its own farewell the same day.
The memo, signed “Cam & David,” describes the closure as part of a wider effort to concentrate investment behind fewer, larger projects. It confirms a “small team at BioWare” had been working on early development for Mass Effect, and that EA “made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace.” BioWare’s statement is blunter: after more than three decades, “BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.”
What the cancellation actually means
The next Mass Effect never advanced past early development, so there was no release window to delay. EA describes the team behind it as small, and the memo does not state how many roles are affected, only that the company will support impacted employees in exploring other positions within EA.
Two questions are left open. EA does not say what happens to BioWare staff outside Edmonton, nor whether any Mass Effect or Dragon Age work continues elsewhere inside the company. Neither franchise appears in the memo’s list of priorities, and BioWare’s most recent release was Dragon Age: The Veilguard in 2024.
A portfolio rebuilt around shooters and sports
The closure is one piece of a larger reorganization. EA calls Battlefield 6 “a great success” and says it will bring Respawn and DICE together on a future project while investing in Apex through new multiplayer modes. Its action-adventure lineup centers on two confirmed launches, Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game, after which EA plans to run fewer simultaneous large-scale projects.
None of those priorities is a western RPG. For players, the practical consequence is that both of BioWare’s flagship series — known for the Mass Effect trilogy’s save-import system and Dragon Age’s branching choices — now have no studio attached to a next entry.
Sources
- Primary: Electronic Arts — Building EA’s Next Chapter
- Primary: BioWare — BioWare Update
- Reporting source: EA Shuts Down BioWare and Cancels the Next Mass Effect
