The video game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) announced today that it will be laying off around 400 employees, including the total shuttering of BioWare, the developers behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, ending 30 years of video game development. The video game industry has been in a long period of tumult including industry-wide layoffs, Playstation ending physical discs, and price hikes for hardware. Layoffs have become such a commonplace occurrence journalist Mike Straw developed this tool to see how many have been impacted in real time.
After a previous round of layoffs by EA earlier this year, an additional 400 employees were let go today. This number included the remaining BioWare team who were left behind to work on production of the (now canceled) fifth entry in the Mass Effect franchise. As reported by Jason Schreier for Bloomburg, the earlier round of layoffs followed the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard after a turbulent development in which, Schreier claims, EA pushed BioWare to make Veilguard a live-service game, causing many false starts. EA is a company with a reputation for acquiring and then subsequently closing studios as evidenced with this Reddit post detailing previous instances. This latest round of layoffs comes following a $55 billion leveraged buyout. In an internal memo that was shared publicly, EA will now focus on developing games such as shooters like Battlefield, sports games from EA Sports, and action-adventures like Star Wars Jedi and the upcoming Marvel’s Iron Man.
BioWare was a storied developer of CRPGs (character role-playing games) with titles from licensed franchises such as Baldur’s Gate and Star Wars, as well as their own IP with Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Many of their titles made The Beat staff’s “9 Games That Made Us” article. While recent titles such as Veilguard, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and the live-service game, Anthem, have not been large commercial successes, BioWare remained a developer with a dedicated fanbase. The long-awaited Mass Effect 5 had been in early development for a number of years but has now officially been cancelled. For BioWare’s official statement regarding the news, read on below:
“For more than 30 years, BioWare has been more than a studio. It has been a home for storytellers, developers, and the players who brought our worlds to life. Baldur’s Gate. Neverwinter Nights. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Dragon Age. Mass Effect. Anthem. Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing, and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending. There is nothing easy about writing those words. Our focus right now is on our incredibly talented team who put their hearts into these games, and supporting one another through this transition. What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember. These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with the characters, and made these worlds your own. From all of us at BioWare, thank you for being the most meaningful part of our story.”
