EA is Permanently Shutting Down BioWare, New Mass Effect Game Canceled

BioWare, the developer behind critically-acclaimed games like Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect, just to name a few, is shutting down. BioWare established itself as a premiere RPG studio with its work in the 90s, but reached new heights in the 2000s with Mass Effect and Dragon Age. The studio’s most recent release was 2024’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which earned mostly positive reviews from critics but suffered a more mixed reception from players and didn’t meet EA’s sales expectations.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was the latest in a string of disappointments for BioWare. After Dragon Age: Inquisition won Game of the Year at the inaugural Game Awards in 2014, the studio released Mass Effect: Andromeda to a significantly more mixed response than the original trilogy of games. Live-service multiplayer game Anthem then launched in 2019 and flopped, with it eventually being shut down. Mass Effect Legendary Edition‘s 2021 was well-received, however, and the studio was hard at work on the highly-anticipated new Mass Effect game that would take place after the events of ME3 and bring back characters from the OG trilogy.

BioWare is Shutting Down

We didn’t know much about the new Mass Effect game beyond the fact that it would bring back Liara T’Soni. A brief teaser trailer for the new Mass Effect showed Liara finding a piece of the Normandy ship from the original trilogy, and that’s really the most fans ever saw of the long-awaited game. Sadly, Mass Effect fans that were looking forward to the new game will now never get to play it. EA has shut down BioWare and the new Mass Effect game is canceled. EA still owns the IP, but if a new game is ever made, a studio other than BioWare will be doing it.

BioWare shutting down is the latest devastating development in what has been a bloodbath for the video game industry over the last few years. Layoffs and studio shutdowns seem to be nonstop, and it remains to be seen when the industry will get any respite from the chaos.

The new Mass Effect game wasn’t the only project in development. A Mass Effect TV series is in the works for Amazon Prime Video that tells an original story in the universe instead of adapting the video games. At the time of this writing, nothing regarding the status of the Mass Effect TV series has been announced, so it seems it is still a-go in the wake of BioWare closing down.

Mass Effect fans looking for a similar experience should take note of Exodus, a 2027 action-RPG that has serious Mass Effect vibes. In fact, Exodus is developed by Archetype Entertainment, a studio comprised of some former BioWare developers. It may not be quite the same as getting the new Mass Effect that fans had waited so long for, but some may be reassured to know that BioWare’s spirit is living on in other projects.