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On Wednesday, Electronic Arts announced it was closing beloved RPG studio BioWare and canceling an in-development Mass Effect sequel. It’s a reminder that, despite EA being owned by new people, the company’s long-running tradition of buying and closing down game studios and publishers, often after gutting them and treating them poorly for years before dealing the final blow, will continue. Since its founding in 1982, Electronic Arts (the winner of the “Worst Company in America” award in 2012 and 2013) has only really done one thing consistently. Releasing and publishing successful, popular video games? Nope. Making good decisions or protecting its employees? Nah. It’s rarely been consistent at doing any of that stuff. The one thing EA seems capable of doing regardless of the year or the people in charge is buying and then closing studios. It is really good at doing that. It’s probably the best company in the game industry at buying and then killing studios like horrific clockwork. Just five years after EA was created, it bought and then quickly shut down its first game company. And since then, it has continued to acquire and kill studios regularly.

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Elijah is a freelance news writer at Polygon. He was an associate editor at The A. V. Club and Paste, and has been featured in outlets like Game Informer, Fanbyte, Unwinnable, and more. He loves media in all forms, from fighting games and horror flicks to slow cinema and visual novels. He's from the Greater Boston area. We now know who will be writing Wonder Woman after Tom King

Jen Glennon is a New York-based journalist and editor with more than a decade of experience covering games and entertainment. She has previously worked at Kotaku, Inverse, and Newsweek. Jen joined Polygon in 2025 and has a relentless appetite for Final Fantasy, Yakuza, and Costco rotisserie chicken. Stranger Than Heaven is Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's most ambitious action-adventure game yet, following protagonist Makoto Daito's life in five Japanese cities over the course of five decades. I came away from a recent half-day preview of the game impressed by its lush urban environments as well as its compelling depiction of an evolving society. But having played most of RGG's Yakuza and Like a Dragon games, I did find myself wondering if Stranger Than Heaven would also incorporate their distinctive (and delightful!) sense of humor.

When EA was acquired by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, many expected major changes at the gaming company, including layoffs and game cancellations, among other shakeups. Now, those have begun, with EA on October 21 confirming a series of significant changes impacting the people and teams that worked on many storied franchises. EA also teased some of what's to come in the future, including a joint project between Respawn and DICE. Here's a rundown of all the big EA news today. Layoffs EA said in a statement that it made the "difficult" choice to lay off staff, and Bloomberg reported that the cuts will impact about 400 people. Affected staffers will be treated with "care and respect," EA said, and some impacted employees may have a chance to get a different job within EA. BioWare closes and new Mass Effect axed BioWare, the esteemed Canadian developer founded 30+ years ago, is shutting down. The studio employed fewer than 100 people, Bloomberg reported, and the team was working on the next Mass Effect. That game is now canceled. "BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly," EA said. Developers at BioWare h

Two months after selling to Saudi Arabia in the biggest leveraged buyout in history, Electronic Arts is overhauling its gaming portfolio and laying off 400 people in its first wave of major post-sale cuts. A broad overview of the plan was shared with staff today in a joint email from chief studios officer Cam Weber and chief operating officer David Tinson. In it, the two laid out what games the publisher will still be investing in and which ones it’s changing directions on. Mass Effect is out. Star Wars Battlefront 3 is in. “Today, we’re the number one publisher in Western HD gaming,” the email said near the top, a copy of which was shared with Kotaku. “That’s an extraordinary position to lead from, and one we should be proud of. Yet our industry is changing quickly. Players have more choices than ever for their time and attention, competition is intensifying, and some of our biggest opportunities for growth are beyond the markets, platforms, and business models where EA has traditionally been the strongest.” EA leadership said they had conducted a “hard look” at the business over the last several months and decided on three “strategic priorities” moving forward.