BioWare's closure, a day later: What survives, what's gone and how fans are reacting

A day after Electronic Arts said it would close BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the news is still one of the biggest searches in the US, with more than 200,000 searches according to Google Trends. Fans are now asking a different set of questions: Is it really over? What happens to the games? And does anything BioWare built live on?

We covered the announcement itself yesterday (EA is shutting down BioWare). Here is where things stand on Thursday.

Is BioWare really shutting down?

Yes. In a farewell post on its official blog on Oct. 21, the studio wrote: “Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.” The post listed the studio’s legacy, from Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights to Anthem, and thanked players for “being the most meaningful part of our story.”

EA said in an email to employees that it would close BioWare’s studio in Edmonton, Canada, and cancel the early-stage Mass Effect project, Reuters reported. In EA’s own words, quoted by IGN: “We’ve had a small team at BioWare working on early-development for Mass Effect. We’ve made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace. BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly.”

How many jobs were cut?

EA is planning to cut around 400 jobs, about 3% of its total staff, including roughly 50 at BioWare, according to Bloomberg News as cited by Reuters and IGN. EA has not, in the reports we reviewed, published its own per-studio breakdown. Reuters reported that the company said it would help affected employees explore other opportunities within EA.

Is Mass Effect 5 canceled?

The next Mass Effect game, often called Mass Effect 5 by fans, is no longer in development. IGN noted that BioWare had spent about half a decade teasing it, and had confirmed it would be set hundreds of years after Mass Effect 3, back in the original Milky Way setting. That story will now go untold, at least by BioWare.

The Mass Effect name isn’t vanishing entirely, though. IGN reported that, as of now, the live-action Mass Effect series at Amazon MGM Studios for Prime Video remains in development.

What happens to SWTOR?

Good news for Star Wars: The Old Republic players: the MMO is not run by BioWare anymore. BioWare launched it in 2011 and supported it until 2023, when EA handed day-to-day development to Broadsword Games, MMO.Net reported. That move, unpopular with some players at the time, now looks like what kept the game alive.

“SWTOR outlives Bioware. What a strange timeline,” read the top comment on a Reddit thread that, according to MMO.Net, drew nearly 5,000 upvotes within a few hours. Another player wrote, “a few years ago I was upset that BioWare was giving up SWTOR and handing it to Broadsword. I am no longer upset by that.”

What about Dragon Age and older BioWare games?

No new Dragon Age project was mentioned in EA’s announcement, and the studio that made the series is closing. IGN noted that both Anthem and Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperformed after the franchise-best sales of Dragon Age: Inquisition. None of the reports we reviewed addressed whether BioWare’s back catalog will stay on sale, and EA has not announced any change to it.

Why did EA shut down BioWare?

EA says it wants fewer, bigger bets. The publisher told staff it would concentrate on fewer large-scale action-adventure games while continuing development of Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game, Reuters reported. IGN added that EA will keep investing in its sports games, Battlefield, Apex Legends and a Respawn and DICE collaboration that Variety reported is Star Wars: Battlefront 3. EA is also restructuring the team behind skate. into a smaller studio.

The cuts arrive a few months after EA was taken private in a $55 billion deal led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, which closed in August, according to Reuters.

How fans are reacting

Across Reddit and social media, the mood has been grief mixed with anger at how the studio’s last decade played out. On the SWTOR subreddit, one user called BioWare “one of the greatest gaming studios of all time” and blamed “corporate mismanagement,” while another listed KOTOR, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Jade Empire and simply wrote, “THANK YOU BIOWARE FOR EVERYTHING,” per MMO.Net.

FAQ

Is BioWare closed? EA announced the closure on Oct. 21, 2026, along with the end of the studio’s Edmonton workspace.

Is Mass Effect 5 canceled? Yes. EA ended early development on the next Mass Effect game.

Is SWTOR shutting down? Nothing in the reporting says so. The game has been developed by Broadsword since 2023.

Is the Mass Effect TV show still happening? IGN reported it remains in development at Amazon MGM Studios.

Earlier coverage: EA is shutting down BioWare: What happens to Mass Effect and Dragon Age (Oct 21)