EA is reportedly laying off 400 employees, 50 of whom were the remaining staffers at BioWare.
Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic developer BioWare is shutting its doors after thirty years of game development.
The storied studio—which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2007 through VG Holding Corp—announced the news in a post on social media. "There is nothing easy about writing those words," the statement reads. "Our focus right now is on our incredibly talented team who put their hearts into these games, and supporting one another through this transition." Bloomberg News also reports that EA is also laying off 400 employees, 50 of whom were working at BioWare on a new entry in the Mass Effect series.
According to Bloomberg, those other 400 layoffs come with the cancelation, downsizing, and reprioritization of other projects. A planned entry in the Sims series code-named "Project Lotus" has been canceled, while another game code-named "Project Evergreen" is being prioritized. It's also diverting resources away from Full Circle Studios' online skateboarding game skate while still maintaining active development on the game. Respawn and DICE studios are apparently set to collaborate on a new game which is "likely" to be another entry in the Star Wars: Battlefront series.
EA chief operating officer David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber apparently sent a letter to EA staff saying that these decisions followed a "hard look at the business" that took place over the last several months.
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