Exactly what everyone thought would happen after EA’s sale to private investors has happened, with Dragon Age developer BioWare to close and major layoffs at the makers of Skate.
When a bigger company buys a smaller one it almost always leads to layoffs, but the sale of EA to private investors – including the Saudi Arabian government and a US-based firm founded by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner – was always going to be particularly bad.
To engineer the sale, EA had to take on $18 billion (£13.4 billion) of debt and in August the company frankly admitted that would result in £125 million worth of layoffs. And today we see what that translates to in reality: the complete closure of legendary role-playing developer BioWare.
Canadian developer BioWare was founded in 1995 and their early work included the first two Baldur’s Gate games and the seminal Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. At that point they began to specialise in narrative-based action role-players, including Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age.
They also produced the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic but after 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda they seem to lose some of their momentum, with live service game Anthem proving a failure and Dragon Age: The Veilguard suffering from tragically poor marketing, despite a solid critical reception.
From that point on they seemed doomed, even though they were supposed to be working on a new Mass Effect – that despite years of waiting has still only been shown via a short pre-rendered teaser.
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What fate BioWare would’ve faced if the sale hadn’t happened is hard to say, but once it went through, and EA were suddenly $18 billion in the red, they seemed doomed.
‘After more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending,’ said the company in a statement on X.
‘There is nothing easy about writing those words. Our focus right now is on our incredibly talented team who put their hearts into these games, and supporting one another through this transition.
‘What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember. These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with the characters, and made these worlds your own.
‘From all of us at BioWare, thank you for being the most meaningful part of our story.’
A Bloomberg report published at the same time as the official annoucement states that 400 jobs have been cut across EA, with around 50 going at BioWare.
The fact that there were so few left at what was, during the 2000s and 2010s, one of the most respected developers in the world shows just how bad things had got – with many of the biggest names having exited the company several years ago.
‘Across our portfolio, we’re making deliberate choices to align talent and investments where we see the greatest opportunities for players and long-term growth,’ said EA chief operating officer David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber, in a latter reportedly sent to staff.
EA’s cuts are just 3% of its current staff, which leaves open the strong possibility that more will be laid off in the near future. According to Bloomberg, a number of developers have already been laid off at Skate creator Full Circle, while The Sims title Project Lotus has apparently been cancelled in favour of a different game, codenamed Project Evergreen.
In term of what they will focus on instead, EA has confirmed that their Iron Man game, which still hasn’t been shown in public, has not been cancelled and that Respawn and DICE are collaborating on a new title, likely to be the recently rumoured Star Wars: Battlefront 3.
Star Wars Jedi 3 is also on the way, with recent rumours suggesting an imminent reveal, while EA will continue to support the Battlefield franchise. A new ‘open world’ American football game is also apparently in development, codenamed Project Gridiron.
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