BioWare, the video game studio behind sci-fi epic Mass Effect and fantasy saga Dragon Age, has been closed down.

The Canadian developer specialising in role-playing games was founded in 1995 and found millions of fans with its complex, branching narratives.

Its last two releases, however, did not meet sales expectations, and parent company Electronic Arts (EA) announced it had decided to close the studio as it cut 400 jobs across the business.

In its own statement, BioWare, which was working on a new Mass Effect game, thanked players for “being the most important part of the story” during its 31-year history.

The developer’s first big taste of success came in 1998 when it released role-playing game Baldur’s Gate, based on Dungeons and Dragons rules.

It became renowned for the quality of its games and in the late 2000s had twin successes with the Mass Effect trilogy and several Dragon Age games.

Mass Effect in particular is regarded as having a long-lasting influence on the video game industry thanks to its ambitious narrative and inclusion of same-sex relationships.

As industry trends changed, BioWare pivoted from single player to multiplayer games with the release of Anthem in 2019 – which disappointed fans and critics.

It followed up with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the fourth game in the series, in 2024.

The game’s protracted development cycle was blamed for its lukewarm reviews – particularly from long-time series fans, who complained it lacked the complex moral choices of its prequels.

Despite BioWare’s recent performance, there was a huge response to the news.

Actors Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer, who voiced female and male versions of Mass Effect’s main character Commander Shepherd, reacted via a livestream on Instagram., external

Addressing fans, Hale said the community that had formed around the game would keep it alive.

“BioWare lives on. Mass Effect lives on. We live on,” she said.

The pair closed the livestream by delivering Shepherd’s famous line: “I should go on.”

Fellow industry figures also showed their support for BioWare.

Michał Nowakowski, co-CEO of The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red, said BioWare had been “a massive part” of the Polish studio’s history, “sharing their wisdom” since working to release Baldur’s Gate in Eastern Europe.

“Not a great day in the games industry,” he wrote, external.

BioWare project director Mike Gamble thanked fans and colleagues for the “words of support for the studio, the legacy, and the impact that BioWare has had on you”.

“It means so much to us,” he added, external.

The studio’s closure comes months after EA – the video game giant responsible for series including EA FC, The Sims and Battlefield – was bought for $55bn by a Saudi Arabia-led group of investors.

As part of the deal, EA took on $20bn in debt, which the company will have to pay back.

In a message to staff, since published on its website, external, the company said it had taken a “hard look” at its business and chosen to focus on key titles and series.

This meant working on “fewer simultaneous, large-scale projects in the action-adventure space”, it said, confirming that a new Iron Man game and a Star Wars Jedi title were being worked on.

The company said it had two projects in development under its EA Sports banner, including a “social-first” American Football game code-named “Project Gridiron”, and that it was in the early stages of resurrecting boxing simulator Fight Night.

EA also said it was committed to the long-term success of skateboarding simulator Skate, and The Sims.

However, it did announce the cancellation of one new Sims project, and said there would be job cuts at Skate developer Full Circle.

The company said BioWare was “a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly”.

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