In a memo to employees from Cam Weber, president and chief studios officer, and David Tinson, president and COO, the two executives wrote that over the past several months they had taken a hard look at the business, how it operates, and what it will take to lead in the next era of interactive entertainment. The hard look produced a restructuring of EA’s studios business that cuts about 3% of the global workforce. EA last reported 14,500 employees, so roughly 400 people are losing their jobs.
You can read the full memo on the EA Blog.
Amidst all this, BioWare took the heaviest hit. EA pulled the plug on the new Mass Effect game, which was still in early development, and with that project gone the studio is closing for good. The Edmonton office, in the city where BioWare got its start, will close with it. Weber and Tinson called BioWare a legendary studio that helped define the role playing genre and said they do not take the decision lightly. Both of those statements are true, which makes the decision harder to swallow.
BioWare posted its own goodbye on its blog. It opens by saying the studio spent more than 30 years as a home for storytellers, developers, and the players who brought its worlds to life, then lists the games by name. Baldur’s Gate. Neverwinter Nights. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Dragon Age. Mass Effect. Anthem. Anthem made the list too, because even a farewell message has to be honest about the whole catalog. Here is the full post from the Bioware Blog:
For more than 30 years, BioWare has been more than a studio. It has been a home for storytellers, developers, and the players who brought our worlds to life.
Baldur’s Gate. Neverwinter Nights. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Dragon Age. Mass Effect. Anthem.
Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.
There is nothing easy about writing those words. Our focus right now is on our incredibly talented team who put their hearts into these games, and supporting one another through this transition.
What generations of BioWare built together is something to celebrate and remember. These games became so much more because you played them, debated your choices, fell in love with the characters, and made these worlds your own.
From all of us at BioWare, thank you for being the most meaningful part of our story.
The statement says there is nothing easy about writing the words that BioWare is closing and that early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending. It says the team’s focus right now is on its own people and on supporting each other through the transition. It also thanks the fans who debated their choices, fell for the characters, and made those worlds their own, and calls them the most meaningful part of the studio’s story.
Anyone who has ever agonized over a dialogue wheel at 2 AM, romanced a companion on purpose, or lost an argument about who should have lived on Virmire has a personal stake in that last paragraph. Mass Effect fans spent years waiting for word on the next game. This week they got it.
