EA’s COO David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber explained that they have taken a deeper look at the organisation, resulting in project cuts and job loss.
Video game company Electronic Arts (EA) has announced plans to cut 3pc of its global staff, around 400 people, alongside plans to shut down BioWare, which is the platform’s development studio responsible for popular games such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
The next Mass Effect game is among the projects being discontinued for now, as it was in early development at BioWare. Reportedly, around 50 of the roughly 400 people being let go at EA are from the BioWare division.
Popular life-simulation franchise The Sims will also be impacted. ‘Project Lotus’ is being put on hold, with priority being reassigned to another Sims related development, ‘Project Evergreen’.
EA said it has two major upcoming launches that are pulling focus, a new game based on Marvel’s Iron Man and the next game in the Star Wars Jedi franchise.
Over the past several months, EA has had to take a closer look at its business operations and what the future might hold.
In a jointly published statement, which was shared with EA’s workforce, EA chief operating officer David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber, said “As we focus on these larger opportunities, we’ve had a small team at BioWare working on early-development for Mass Effect.
“We’ve made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace. BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre and we do not take this decision lightly.
“We’ve challenged assumptions, confronted hard realities, imagined new possibilities and made deliberate choices in order to deliver exceptional experiences for our players and to drive sustained growth.”
In 2025, EA was acquired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, a private equity firm founded by Jared Kushner, in a deal valued at $55bn.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.