Original title: EA Lays Off 400: BioWare Studio Dissolved, Multiple Games Cancelled
Author: Beizhai
Source: Game Knowledge
Cover image source | pexels
In the early hours of October 22, Electronic Arts (EA) published on its website an open letter to all employees co-signed by Chief Operating Officer David Tinson and the Chief Studios Officer, stating that after re-examining the business over the past few months, they had made several important decisions, including layoffs, dissolving a studio, and business adjustments.
According to Bloomberg, the layoffs will cut approximately 400 positions, about 3% of its total workforce, including roughly 50 roles at BioWare. With BioWare's dissolution, "Mass Effect 5," which was in early development, will also be terminated—six years after the game was first revealed. Notably, the live-action "Mass Effect" adaptation series that Amazon confirmed in development in 2024 is unaffected.
The original BioWare dissolution announcement
In the open letter, EA outlined its development plans for the company's four key game categories—shooters, action-adventure games, sports games, and life simulation games.
For shooters, EA affirmed the huge success of "Battlefield 6" since its release and will deliver sequels to the Battlefield series in the future. In addition, Respawn and DICE will merge to develop a new large-scale shooter project, while "Apex Legends" will continue to receive substantial investment from EA.
For action-adventure games, EA will reduce the number of projects in development while increasing their scale. EA's current development focus is on two upcoming action-adventure titles—"Marvel's Iron Man" and the next game in the "Star Wars Jedi" series.
For sports games, EA will fully invest in and operate its football series "EA Sports FC," while other EA Sports series are also in full development. Two new projects under development are also worth noting: "Project Gridiro," a socially heavy open-world American football game, and a reboot of the "Fight Night" series (EA Sports Fight Night) in early development. Notably, in 2025, there were reports that EA had cancelled the "Fight Night" reboot plan.
For life simulation games, EA will focus on "The Sims" series and "Skate." EA adjusted its development plan for "The Sims" IP projects, cancelling "Project Lotus" and prioritizing "Project Evergreen." The skateboarding game "Skate" will continue to operate, but its team size will be reduced.
In addition, in its strategy of expanding its coverage, EA mentioned the "Asia" market, believing that succeeding there requires creating works that fit local players' tastes, cultural habits, and experience expectations.
In August this year, EA was acquired through a leveraged buyout by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners (which has ties to US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and multiple Middle Eastern countries), at a price of $55 billion (approximately RMB 371.4 billion)—the largest leveraged buyout in history.
Following the acquisition, EA added approximately $18 billion in debt to its books and is trying to balance spending through a series of measures. According to Bloomberg, in March this year, sources said EA was about to cut costs through efficiency improvements.
Notably, in this round of adjustments, EA dissolved BioWare, a studio with 31 years of history. The studio once produced classic games including the "Baldur's Gate" series (excluding "Baldur's Gate 3"), the "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" series, the "Mass Effect" series, and the "Dragon Age" series.
BioWare's performance in recent years has been less than stellar, which may be the reason EA decided to dissolve the studio. "Mass Effect: Andromeda," launched in 2017, failed to meet most players' expectations; "Anthem," launched in 2019, was officially shut down in January this year; and "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" sold far below its predecessor while also receiving poor player reception.
