EA announces closure of BioWare and cancellation of Mass Effect 5 — ABC News Australia
In Canada, Electronic Arts (EA) announced the closure of BioWare, the studio behind the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, as well as the first two Baldur’s Gate games. Development of Mass Effect 5 has been cancelled. ABC News Australia reports on the decision, announced on October 22, 2026.
In a statement on social media, BioWare said that its focus is currently on supporting the team during the transition. The next game in the Mass Effect series had previously been tentatively planned for release in 2028.
A studio since 1995
BioWare was founded in 1995 in Edmonton, Canada, by doctors Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip. One of the studio’s first major successes was the role-playing game Baldur’s Gate, released in 1998. Its development was estimated to have cost about CAD 1 million, while sales exceeded 2 million copies.
BioWare later released Baldur’s Gate 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, as well as its own Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. Former studio writer David Gaider said that the success of Baldur’s Gate 2 made BioWare well known, and that the period from 2007 to 2010 was especially successful for the company.
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EA acquisition and latest releases
EA acquired BioWare in 2007 for approximately $1.2 billion. Dragon Age: Inquisition, released in 2014, sold more than 12 million copies and became BioWare’s best-selling game.
At the same time, the studio’s subsequent major projects encountered problems. Mass Effect: Andromeda received a weak response, while the multiplayer game Anthem, released in 2019, failed to meet EA’s commercial expectations. In January 2026, Anthem’s servers were shut down, after which the game became unavailable. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare’s latest major release, came out in 2024.
After the report of the studio’s closure, fans and former employees recalled its contribution to the development of role-playing games. A petition calling for Mass Effect to be saved had collected more than 275,000 signatures, according to ABC News Australia.
