Electronic Arts to Cut 400 Jobs, Shut Down BioWare

Electronic Arts Inc. said it will lay off staff and shut down BioWare, the long-running development studio behind roleplaying games such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

The video-game publisher will cut around 400 jobs, about 3% of its total staff, including roughly 50 at BioWare, according to a person familiar with the company’s plans, who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information.

EA went private in August following a $55 billion leveraged buyout led by Saudi Arabia’s investment fund, which placed around $18 billion in debt on EA’s books. Earlier this year, the company told investors it had a plan to save up to $700 million in part by cutting research and development costs.

In a letter to staff Wednesday reviewed by Bloomberg, EA Chief Operating Officer David Tinson and Chief Studios Officer Cam Weber wrote that “over the past several months, we’ve taken a hard look at our business” and will cut some projects, including the next Mass Effect game, which was in early development at BioWare.

EA said it will continue investing in its sports games, the online shooter Apex Legends and action-adventure projects, including the next Star Wars Jedi title and a new game starring Marvel’s Iron Man. The company also said it plans to continue the Battlefield franchise and that its Respawn and DICE studios will collaborate on a new project, which is likely to be another entry in the Star Wars: Battlefront series.

“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,” the executives wrote.

BioWare, founded in 1995, was acquired by EA in 2007. During its first few years under EA, the studio released a string of hit roleplaying games in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises but has struggled in recent years with critically panned titles such as Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem.

The studio’s most recent game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, missed sales expectations and led EA to gut the studio last year.

In the letter to staff, EA said it was canceling a planned game in The Sims franchise code-named Project Lotus and instead prioritizing a different venture, code-named Project Evergreen. The company also said it would continue to develop the skateboarding game skate but would downsize the team behind it.