Well, who saw this coming?

Some roles being eliminated (with the option to apply elsewhere in EA), most affected are moving to other EA studios probably to continue churning out the annual sports games.

https://www.ign.com/articles/mass-effect-5-bioware-doesnt-require-support-from-the-full-studio-ea-moves-some-staff-to-other-teams

However it seems the rumors of them possibly canceling Mass Effect and closing down the studio was not true or didn't end up happening.
(There was a rumor that could happen sometime in February before.)

Now its, keep staff to minimum while pre - planning stage is going on.
Then shuffle people to work on other stuff in the company or lay them off... maybe rehire some again, when Mass effect goes into real production.

I still think Mass effect is the last chance Bioware has.

Shadow Realms (cancelled shortly before release) (to move staff onto ME Andromeda)
Mass effect Andromeda (flopped)
Anthem (flopped)
Mass effect Legendary edition (bundle of 3 games, remastered) (sold okay, likely made a small profit)
Dragon Age Veilguard (flopped)

The last time Bioware made a game that (really) made money, was back in 2014... with Dragon Age Inquisition.
If you go 10-11 years, with a bad streak...  EA gets antsy.

*edit:
Mass Effect has to be another 6years or so, to be done, right?
So by the time, a new Mass Effect is out (~2031), it will have been 16-17 years.... without 1 game making profits.
I feel like thats along time, to keep paying staff.... for their performance.

Imagine a retail shop, that losses money for 16-17years straight..... and somehow is still kept open, owners hoping 1day things turn around?

Well thats what happens when you hire activists instead of game developers...

Honestly, ever since Anthem bombed, I had a feeling they are keeping BioWare afloat just to escape the insanely negative reaction, shutting down such a studio would cause. But even taking out EA from the equation, the truth is BioWare is a shadow of its former self.

The sad reality is they are never going to learn, nor do they want to. Activision is already trying to rebrand their own DEI programs, and I imagine EA will as well.

It's going to be another case for gamers to:

People have been saying this -next game- is Biowares last chance since Dragon Age 2.

Since we have had Mass Effect 3, Anthem, Andromeda, Veilguard which have all been surrounded by criticism, politics and drama.

However this is the first movement we have had since 2011 where EA are taking proactive changes to "manage" the developer... The next Mass Effect is likely the make it or break it moment for Bioware, EA doesn't support developers who drop the ball, forever.

Can you TLDR. I don't want to give IGN traffic.

Not forever... just 16-17 years of it (from DA-inquistion, to new Mass Effect (~2031)).
I very much agree with your "EA doesn't support developers who drop the ball, forever" take.
Its why there is that PapEA meme... where he takes the studio out to a graveyard and shoots it dead.

And honestly.... most studios that lose money for that long, reguardless of who owns them, are at risk imo.

They used to be a 2 project team studio.
So while pre-production, and planning, everyone would go do the otherthing, while they where not directly needed at the time for their own thing.
(and vice-versa). This way, they would always have people working for them, doing something, in this studio.

Now...

Gary McKay, wrote that the studio is "taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare."

"Given this stage of development, we don’t require support from the full studio,"

"..we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit."


"While we're not sharing numbers, the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development."
(why should we tell you, how many people we fired? and how many are working on Mass Effect atm? We think it's enough for now)



TLDR :

Bioware is no longer a 2 project team studio (it's implied by Gary, and repeated by IGN).
People not needed, are being fired (they are in pre-planning Mass Effect stage, don't need everyone at the studio who currently is).
Some that were deemed really tallented, if needed other places, were put there instead (most were probably just let go)
(they won't give numbers, its likely alot).

The good news, is a year down the line, when they are ready to start full production or something...
They might rehire some of these people, if they are then still looking for work, and want to give it another go.