BioWare’s Shutdown Reflects EA’s Current Direction, & It Should Be Concerning For Fans Of Other Studios
Undeniably one of the biggest stories in gaming right now is the closure of legendary studio BioWare, a company that suffered 400+ layoffs as a result of its shutdown from publisher Electronic Arts (EA). Winner of the Consumerist Worst Company in America award in 2012 and 2013, EA acquired BioWare back in 2007, around when Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 were still in development. Ever since, players have blamed EA’s involvement for the dip in quality of BioWare’s games, with the company’s new plans also drawing concerns for how it will impact other gaming divisions under its umbrella.
Already, there are petitions to save series like Mass Effect following BioWare’s closure, although it’s unclear if those will amount to anything despite mass fan involvement. BioWare shutting down, while a significant blow to the gaming industry, is hardly surprising if you’ve followed the company’s struggles over the last few years. BioWare was partially responsible for the disappointing releases of games like Anthem, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and Mass Effect: Andromeda, though EA’s meddling with live service trends likely caused developmental setbacks that helped caused those titles to fail.
Electronic Arts Shuts Down BioWare Only Two Months After Finalizing Its $55 Billion Buyout
The timing of the BioWare closure has many fans questioning why EA would shutter the studio without warning, even if the writing was on the wall for them to do so. Despite the nature of BioWare’s last games, the studio was known to be in the midst of creating Mass Effect 5, also known as Mass Effect Universe, a project they’d been working on for the past three years. One of the reasons EA may have shut down BioWare in the way it did was due to the company’s recent changes, namely their acquisition by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) that got finalized back in August 2026.
The $55 billion buyout of EA is one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history, allowing the PIF to gain ownership of not just the publishing company itself, but all the studios underneath it. This includes the acquisition of popular franchises under EA, like FIFA, Madden, Battlefield, Need for Speed, and the rights to Star Wars games, which are solely handled by EA through a partnership with Disney. PIF now owns roughly 93.4% of all shares of EA, with another 5.5% going to Affinity Partners, a company led by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law to current United States President Donald Trump. This buyout took a long time to organize, but almost immediately after the mentioned details were finalized and approved, BioWare’s doors closed permanently.
Many players point toward BioWare’s closure as a direct result of EA’s new management, who may be trying to restructure the company post-buyout. The large amount of layoffs would reflect similar resets other gaming organizations are going through, such as the 3,200+ layoffs at Xbox and its associated groups. That being said, some players point toward the PIF’s desire to continue a “cultural washing” strategy, where the group has bought out multiple culture, entertainment, arts, and sports companies like EA to rehabilitate a state’s international image, thus deflecting attention away from human rights abuse.
The fact that EA, a company known for extensive LGBTQ+ representation in its games, was the first company to close following the buyout to a Saudi Arabian company is not lost on many players. The discriminatory and repressive ideologies of the Saudi Arabian government toward LGBTQ+ people and communities could easily extend to the PIF, as that company is working toward the direct goals of that nation’s leadership. The illegal nature of LGBTQ+ identities in Saudi Arabia could have led the PIF to desire BioWare’s closure before any other studio after getting EA, using its poor past gaming sales numbers and criticisms as an excuse toward a goal they would’ve worked toward anyway.
The Initial Shock of BioWare’s Closure Could Soften the Blow of Other Shutdowns & Layoffs
Beyond just the cultural shift the PIF could bring to all of EA’s games, having BioWare axed quickly may be a way to get players desensitized to other studios closing down. After the buyout, EA is still the umbrella publisher for a number of known gaming companies, including a few working on some anticipated projects. Some of these studios include:
- Codemasters (F1 series)
- Criterion Games (Need for Speed, Battlefield)
- DICE (Star Wars: Battlefront, Battlefield)
- Maxis (The Sims series)
- Motive Studio (Dead Space series)
- Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall, Apex Legends, Star Wars: Jedi series)
- Full Circle (Skate)
It wouldn’t be surprising if any of these groups suffered layoffs in the next few months, or even other studio closures following what happened to BioWare. In many ways, the initial shock of 400+ people getting fired and one of gaming’s most known studios suddenly being dissolved will make smaller groups’ fates look less impactful by comparison. With Xbox’s huge series of layoffs too, this could be even more possible, especially as other big gaming studios like Bungie also suffer losses to further get players “used” to the idea.
Ea’s Direction Seems to Be Consolidation That Mirrors Other Gaming Company Trends
EA is already starting to erase series like Mass Effect from its other products, and may likely close down other studios to consolidate its biggest earning games together. This could mean that one, two, or three years down the line, EA may only have the FIFA and Madden NFL series under their umbrella, having taking in and destroyed every other studio due to their inability to make absurd profit expectations. With EA’s big trend chasing toward live service over the last few years and it constantly changing roadmaps and directions for games that subsequently put them in development hell, it’s no wonder why the publisher was voted “Worst Company” multiple years in a row.
EA moving forward might only focus on the profitability of proven series, like the EA Sports division games mentioned earlier. This reflects how Xbox is restructuring to focus solely on Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Halo to a degree, while Sony moves on from Destiny 2 and cancels projects like Hideo Kojima’s Physint before it can even get going. Fans of any studio under Electronic Arts right now should be rightfully concerned at this direction, as it only signals that BioWare’s closure was the beginning of a much more painful process.
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