BioWare Is Closing After 30 Years, and Its Legacy Deserved Better

Electronic Arts, better known as EA these days, has been going through a really rough spell. I don’t need to tell you that. Anyone who’s been paying attention can see it. But today, I think we’ve reached the point where EA is caught in a downward spiral that I’m not sure it can pull itself out of. Today, BioWare took to social media to announce that it is closing its doors after more than 30 years, and that early development on the next Mass Effect game, one I’ve been looking forward to for years, has come to an end.

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— BioWare (@bioware) October 21, 2026

Now, mind you, there are a lot of moving parts here, but I’m going to be upfront about how I feel. BioWare was already shrinking before the buyout was ever announced, with developers shuffled onto other EA projects in early 2025 so the studio could narrow its focus to Mass Effect. That was the writing on the wall. What the buyout did was take a company already trimming its ambitions and bury it under an enormous pile of debt.

The deal was a massive $55 billion buyout backed by an investment group that included Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, the firm founded by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law. A deal that size, loaded with that much debt, leaves very little room for patience, and patience is exactly what a studio like BioWare needs to make a game like Mass Effect. We were assured that everything would be fine and that EA would keep moving forward. I don’t think a studio closure is what fine looks like.

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This was a massive $55 billion deal involving an enormous amount of debt, the kind that would make the average person’s head spin. And yet, we were assured that everything would be fine and that EA would continue moving forward.

And now look where we are. How many more studios, projects, and talented developers are going to be sacrificed before someone admits that things aren’t going nearly as well as we were led to believe? I understand that running a company of EA’s size comes with difficult decisions, but watching another legendary studio disappear isn’t something I’m willing to shrug off as business as usual.

I don’t feel good about where Electronic Arts is heading, and I certainly don’t feel good for its fans. But more importantly, I’m crying on the inside for all the incredibly talented people who helped build studios like BioWare, only to watch everything they worked for come crashing down. I’m also thinking about the other studios under EA’s umbrella, the developers who are probably wondering whether something terrible is coming down the pipeline for them next. Because if a studio with BioWare’s history and legacy isn’t safe, what does that say about everyone else?

Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. These weren’t just games. They were worlds we spent countless hours exploring, characters we grew attached to, and stories that stayed with us long after the credits rolled. And now, one of the studios responsible for so many of those memories is gone.

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I was genuinely looking forward to seeing where BioWare would take Mass Effect next. Now we’ll never get that opportunity, at least not with the team and vision that were working on it. And while EA will continue talking about its future, growth, and opportunities, I can’t help but wonder how much more of its past it’s willing to destroy to get there.

bioware Dragon Age mass effect Electronic Arts Neverwinter Nights baldurs gate star wars knights of the old republic