The legendary studio behind series like Mass effect, Dragon Age, Winter nightsAnd Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is no more. BioWare announced Wednesday afternoon via social media that “after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing its doors and beginning development of the next Mass effect the project ends. »
The official announcement came just minutes after a Bloomberg report detailed 400 job cuts at BioWare’s parent company Electronic Arts, including 50 at BioWare, based on reports from a “person familiar with the company’s plans.”
“Across our portfolio, we are making deliberate choices to align talent and investments where we see the greatest opportunities for players and long-term growth,” EA executives wrote in a message to staff, according to Bloomberg.
A long time coming
After its founding in 1995 in Edmonton, Alberta, BioWare first came under the EA umbrella via a purchase in 2007, before Mass effect And Dragon Age were even a thing. At the time, then-EA CEO John Riccitiello called BioWare “one of the most respected studios in the industry” that would “make a strong contribution to our strategic growth initiatives in quality, online gaming and the development of new intellectual properties. We also expect it to generate long-term value for our shareholders.”
Of course, EA no longer has public shareholders after a $55 billion deal led by Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners took the company private last year. At the time of the move, analysts told Ars to expect “layoffs, studio closures and (selling) intellectual property” as the newly private and now heavily indebted company placed “more emphasis on live services, more on annual sports franchises (and) microtransactions” to help boost profits.
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