EA closes BioWare and cancels Mass Effect as a leaked trailer for Mass Effect: Universe surfaces

The closure

Electronic Arts announced on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, that it would close BioWare, a studio based in Edmonton, Canada, and founded in 1995. The company also abandoned development of a new Mass Effect project and said it would focus on fewer but larger projects. More than 400 people are losing their jobs, which TechRadar reported as 400 layoffs across the publisher's studios. La Repubblica dates EA's takeover of the studio to 2007, and Guardian columnist Lucy James wrote that BioWare had not put out a critical or commercial hit in over 10 years. The next Mass Effect game was first teased in 2020 and was still years from release when it was cancelled.

Buyout and debt

EA was bought for about $55 billion over the summer by a group of investors. Among the buyers are Saudi Arabia's state investment fund and the investment firm of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Lucy James wrote in The Guardian that the parent company was carrying $20bn of debt from a recent leveraged buyout. Spider's Web argued that EA was looking for savings to pay down that debt, and that a costly American studio that was BioWare in name only was among the cuts. Closing BioWare was therefore presented by commentators as part of a broader cost-cutting push tied to the deal.

The leaked trailer

On Thursday, 22 October, an anonymous Reddit user posted a roughly two-minute cinematic trailer for a game titled Mass Effect: Universe. The video opens with a note that it is in-engine footage from a small team using pre-production assets. It shows a new ex-military protagonist, Liara T'Soni, and new companions, including a male Quarian. A bar scene turns into a gunfight with N7 allies, and other shots show a hovercraft over an icy planet and a holographic map. IGN confirmed the trailer early on Thursday, and within hours Bloomberg's Jason Schreier also verified it, saying it came from someone inside EA.

Can confirm that this is a real trailer of the Mass Effect game that BioWare was developing up until its closure.

Fans and speculation

Fans have pushed hard for the project to be revived. A Change.org petition called #SaveMassEffect had more than 45,799 signatures in reports published on 23 October. Some fans have speculated that the leak was a deliberate publicity move, comparing it to the leaked test footage that actor Ryan Reynolds released before the Deadpool movie was revived. Reports say the trailer remains the clearest sign of how far the project had progressed before its cancellation.

Developers respond

Sci-fi authors Catherynne M. Valente and Derek Kunsken both revealed that they had worked on the game for years. Valente described the work as both a privilege and a challenge in a public message that Ars Technica reported.

It was one of the greatest privileges & GLORIOUS challenges of my life.

Kunsken also confirmed his involvement in the project. La Repubblica reports that the original Mass Effect trilogy has sold more than 14 million copies.