https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-21/electronic-arts-to-cut-400-jobs-shut-down-bioware

400 will be laid off across all of EA, 50 at Bioware laid off. Mass Effect 5 cancelled.

Elsewhere at EA, one Sims project got cancelled but another was greenlit, while early access skate will continue development but with reduced staff.

No Mass Effect? Damn after Perfect Dark another carrot on a stick just vanished.

One of those you knew it would happen eventually but still a shock when it does. Sadly Bioware had not release anything good in 16 years. EA meddled and meddled until they were a shell and now the shell is gone. Dragon Age Veilguard is a sad note to end on. May those people find work and maybe found a new studio to try and recapture what once was.

The meme from like 19 years ago when EA first bought Bioware has finally come to fruition, took longer than some expected

They made some great games, and some meh games. They stood no chance once Saudi Arabia purchased EA.

Its a shame cause its 400 people losing their jobs, I dunno whats up with that, like, theres was a notorious disconnect between what the studio was doing and what the fans wanted. We saw that with Andromeda. We saw that with Veilguard. And i cant help to feel its a shame cause they had the right ingredients, they had the right IPs, just didnt know what to do with them. 

Cant say its unexpected. its been a long time since their last actual good and successful release, at this point they most've been costing EA a ton of money. I can only assume that new Mass Effect game was not turning out how they were hoping.

EA is all kinds of awful but this is not surprising after three misses on a row, all with very long and turbulent development periods.

Still, a shame that we won't get to see a new Mass Effect from them. It probably wouldn't happen, but there was a chance of redemption in there.

EA owns the IP don't they? If so, some other studio will make one.

BioWare are in much the same position as Telltale were at the time of their demise - they didn't actually own most of the IPs that they made their most successful games for, and they managed to drive the reputations of original properties that they did create into the ground.

Either way, I think a certain Mike Ehrmantraut quote is apropos here:

"You know how they say it's been a pleasure? Well, it hasn't." (At least not since 2010) 

I genuinely thought EA would led Bioware ship the new Mass Effect before deciding to close it down or not, making this move surprising, at least to me.
It's easy to say this now, but I don't think this would have happened if Zampella was still alive and at EA.

Well, that leaves Exodus and The Expanse as not only the closest, but also the only options for those of us that wanted to play something similar to a Mass Effect game, and it also leaves EA without another IP for fans to look after.