Bioware is Closing, Development on Mass Effect Next Stopped

In an unexpected but highly saddening move, publisher Electronic Arts is to cut about 400 jobs (as reported by Bloomberg), and Bioware is on the chopping block. The official X (previously Twitter) account of Bioware shared a farewell message in which the team announced that the studio is shutting down and the development on the next Mass Effect is stopped.

The upcoming N7 and D4 days are going to be quite empty. Dareth shiral, vhenallin.

Electronic Arts shared a lengthy blog post in which the publisher outlined the next chapter. The studio seeks to deepen their core and focusing the teams and opportunities on the biggest projects; expanding their reach across new platforms, markets and business models; transform the business to create entirely new ways for fans to engage with the teams, athletes and sports they love.

The focus of the studio now lies with shooters (BF6, future Battlefield titles, bringing together our Respawn and DICE studios to collaborate on a future project) and action-adventure (Marvel’s Iron Man, Star Wars Jedi, and others). Meanwhile, EA Sports and Lifestyle (The Sims) will be going full-speed ahead.

“As we focus on these larger opportunities, 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.”

Tags: bioware, dragon age, Electronic Arts, mass effect Written byCatherine Daro A lover of all things RPG and TBS, Catherine is always looking for a new fantasy world to get lost in.