BioWare, the Edmonton studio behind Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, is closing. In a short post on its blog on 21 October 2026 the studio wrote that it “is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending”, and said its immediate focus is on supporting its team. The post gives no closure date, headcount or details on existing games.
EA’s letter: a small Mass Effect team, no job figure
The decision is explained in a letter to Electronic Arts employees, published on EA’s site the same day as “Building EA’s Next Chapter” and signed by Cam and David. They are Cam Weber and David Tinson, whom EA named presidents, with the titles Chief Studios Officer and Chief Operating Officer respectively, when its takeover by PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners closed on 4 August 2026.
According to the letter, a small team at BioWare had been in early development on Mass Effect. EA decided not to move forward with that work, “which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace”. The letter calls BioWare a legendary role-playing studio and says the decision was not taken lightly. EA says it will support affected employees in exploring other roles inside the company and will discuss its direction at a Global Town Hall in November.
The letter does not give the number of jobs affected. Several outlets, including tbreak, put EA’s overall cuts at around 400 people, roughly 3% of staff, an estimate based on EA’s last reported headcount rather than a company figure. BioWare co-founder Trent Oster told CTV News Edmonton that he estimates about 40 people were left at the studio, mainly working on the cancelled Mass Effect (BNN Bloomberg / CTV News).
Respawn and DICE team up, a Sims project is paused
BioWare is the sharpest decision in a letter that reorganises much of EA. After what it describes as several months of reviewing the business, leadership names three priorities: deepening its core franchises; expanding into new platforms, markets and business models, with Asia given as an example; and building new ways for sports fans to engage with teams and athletes. The concrete choices it lists:
- Shooters: Respawn and DICE will collaborate on an unannounced future project, and EA plans to keep investing heavily in Apex Legends.
- Action-adventure: Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game remain the two big launches, after which EA intends to run fewer large-scale projects at once.
- EA Sports: alongside the FC series, EA confirms “Project Gridiron”, a social-first open-world American football experience, and the return of Fight Night, now in pre-production.
- The Sims and skate.: “Project Evergreen” gets more time, “Project Lotus” is paused to support it, and the skate. studio is being reshaped into a smaller team.
Reaction in Edmonton
BioWare was founded in Edmonton in 1995 and once also ran offices in Austin, Montreal and San Francisco. EA bought it in a deal announced in 2007. Oster, who left in 2009 and now leads Beamdog, called the closure a “seismic blow to the local industry”, Digital Alberta’s vice chair Travis Gibson described it as “a gut punch”, and Edmonton mayor Andrew Knack said the decision had “nothing to do with Edmonton”, CTV News reported.
The closure comes a day after French studio Don’t Nod entered court-supervised safeguard proceedings (our report). Neither EA nor the studio has said what happens to the Mass Effect and Dragon Age rights, existing online services or any remaining BioWare projects.