Electronic Arts is shutting down BioWare and cutting about 400 jobs

Electronic Arts $EA is shutting down BioWare, the studio behind the Dragon Age and Mass Effect games, the company said in a memo to employees on Wednesday.

The restructuring will eliminate 400 or so positions, equal to roughly 3% of EA's workforce, and about 50 of those are at BioWare, according to Bloomberg.

Chief Studios Officer Cam Weber and Chief Operating Officer David Tinson wrote that "over the past several months, we've taken a hard look at our business." They said a small BioWare team had been doing early groundwork on a Mass Effect game, but EA chose to drop the effort. That decision means closing the studio and its Edmonton workspace, they wrote.

"We do not take this decision lightly," Weber and Tinson said of the BioWare closure, according to Variety.

EA will keep investing in Apex Legends and is continuing work on two upcoming launches, Marvel's Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game, the executives said. They added that EA's Respawn and DICE studios will join forces on an upcoming project, in addition to new Battlefield titles. Bloomberg said the project is probably a new installment of the Star Wars: Battlefront franchise.

In The Sims franchise, EA is pausing development on Project Lotus to prioritize a different project, Project Evergreen, according to the memo. The company will also shrink the team behind skate. to deliver what the executives described as a clear roadmap.

At EA Sports, two new projects are in development, including an open-world American football game called Project Gridiron. The company is also in pre-production on a return of Fight Night, the executives wrote.

EA became a private company in August through a leveraged buyout worth $55 billion that was spearheaded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, according to Bloomberg. The deal left EA carrying roughly $18 billion of debt, according to Bloomberg. Earlier this year, EA laid out for investors a plan to save as much as $700 million, partly through reduced spending on research and development, according to Bloomberg.

BioWare's latest title, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, fell short of sales expectations, prompting EA to impose steep cuts at the studio last year, according to Bloomberg.