I only played Mass Effect once and I do still plan on playing 2 and 3 at some point, but I really did enjoy the game. Still, it is sad that BioWare is getting shut down by EA, which was announced on October 21, 2026. I thought it was shocking, personally. Mass Effect was a huge hit for them, if you don't count Andromeda, but Legendary Edition seemed popular. Then Dragon Age was also a well known game, but the latest one received mixed reviews. They were working on a new Mass Effect, but that was unfortunately cancelled with the closing of BioWare.
EA's $55 Billion Buyout and the BioWare Closure
EA went private in August through the $55 billion PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners buyout, and this was the first big move after. About 400 jobs were cut across EA, about 50 at BioWare. The money is going to sports, Apex Legends, Battlefield, and the Star Wars and Iron Man games.
This didn't come out of the blue. Andromeda's story DLC was dropped. Anthem's servers went dark January 12, 2026. EA said Veilguard reached about 1.5 million players, nearly 50 percent under expectations, and BioWare was shrunk after that.
Could Xbox or Sony Buy Mass Effect?
People are already calling for Xbox or Sony to buy the IP and make their own Mass Effect game. Mass Effect was an Xbox exclusive for a while and even the second game was a timed exclusive. It would seem like Mass Effect would be a no-brainer for Xbox to try and get the IP. A new Mass Effect could be a system seller for them and if they want to move consoles, they need some console seller exclusives. Neither Xbox nor Sony has been immune from shutting down projects lately. Arkane Lyon has to find a buyer or be shut down. It was originally reported to have a November 13, 2026 deadline, but now Microsoft has extended it by a month. If they go, then we don't get Marvel's Blade, which they have been working on. We already lost Blade in the MCU, hopefully we see Wesley Snipes again in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, since we will probably never see Mahershala Ali's take. At least we still got him as Cottonmouth.
Sony Dropped Physint and Closed Bluepoint Games
Sony has recently pulled out of funding Kojima Productions' Physint, allowing Xbox to fund the project instead. Earlier this year they shut down Bluepoint Games, and last year they cancelled a few live-service games. Bloomberg reported Bluepoint had pitched a Bloodborne remake before Sony closed the studio. They also cancelled Marvel's Spider-Man: The Great Web, a live-service game from Insomniac that came out in the Insomniac hack back in December 2023. I would have loved a multiplayer Spider-Man game. Spider-Man 2 is probably my favorite game for the PS5.
