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BioWare announced on social media that after more than three decades it is closing, with early development on the next Mass Effect project halted. The shutdown followed a Bloomberg report that parent company Electronic Arts is cutting 400 jobs companywide, including 50 at BioWare. EA executives told staff the moves aim to align talent and investment toward areas of greatest growth opportunity.
Electronic Arts is closing BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and shutting its Edmonton office, canceling an early-stage next Mass Effect project. The move is part of layoffs affecting roughly 400 employees, about three percent of EA's workforce, with additional cuts at Skate developer Full Circle and a paused project at Maxis.
Electronic Arts is shutting down BioWare, the studio behind franchises like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, according to a report. Details on the timing and fate of remaining staff and projects were not specified in available information.
EA told staff this week that it is closing BioWare's Edmonton office, its last remaining studio, and canceling the early-stage next Mass Effect project. The move eliminated about 50 BioWare jobs as part of roughly 400 layoffs across EA following the company's $55 billion leveraged buyout earlier this year.
A growing community of hobbyists is using AI chatbots and open-source language models to co-create sprawling fantasy stories and role-plays, often through tools like SillyTavern that run models locally. Users like Brazilian software engineer Petra Ferraz de Novaes describe building elaborate, ever-evolving narratives across fandoms such as Star Wars and Pokémon, valuing the AI's unpredictable, sometimes bizarre outputs. Researchers at the University of Washington found that many participants know the content is AI-generated and see that as part of the appeal, not a drawback.