EA shuts down BioWare

[u/3Sayndre]

https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/ea-layoffs-bioware-shutting-down-respawn-dice-star-wars-battlefront-3-1236918715/

[u/_Gravitas_]

 Visceral (Dead Space) - shut down in 2017

Mythic (Dark Age of Camelot) - Purchased by EA in 2006; shut down in 2014.

Bullfrog (Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper) - Purchased by EA in 1995; shut down in 2001.

Origin (Ultima, Wing Commander) - Purchased by EA in 1992; shut down in 2004.

Westwood (Command & Conquer) - Purchased by EA in 1998; shut down in 2003.

DreamWorks Interactive/Danger Close/EA Los Angeles (Medal of Honor) - Purchased by EA in 2000; shut down in 2013.

Phenomic (SpellForce, BattleForge) - Purchased by EA in 2006; shut down in 2013.

Black Box Games (Need for Speed, Skate) - Purchased by EA in 2002; shut down in 2013.

Pandemic (Destroy all Humans, Mercenaries, Star Wars Battlefront, The Saboteur) - Purchased by EA in 2008; shut down in 2009.

PlayFish (The Sims Social) - Purchased by EA in 2009; shut down in 2013.

NuFX (NBA Street) - Purchased by EA in 2004; shut down in 2007.

Maxis (Sims, Spore, SimCity) Purchased 1997; gutted by 2019

Codemasters (Dirt, F1, Overlord) Purchased 2021; gutted by 2023

Bioware (Baldur's Gate, Kotor, Neverwinter Nights, DA:O, Mass Effect) - Purchased by EA in 2007; shut down 2026

Respawn (Call of Duty, Titanfall, Apex Legends) - Purchased 2017; layoffs and cancellations, SOON?

Dice (Battlefield, Battlefront, Frostbite) - Purchased 2006; SOON

[u/geileanus → u/_Gravitas_]

Why do they do this? Genuinely what is happening here?

[u/YeeYeeBeep → u/geileanus]

So there is something called a Private Equity Firm. Now a lot of bullshit is needed to explain them in detail but ill keep it brief and as ELI5 as possible. A company, in this case EA, buys another company, Bioware, now owning this company and its legal rights and all that jazz, they make the dev company produce games that can range from bad to good. The quality dosent matter because since its Bioware who made the games, that company eats any losses, meanwhile EA will take any profits from the company and pay out the execs. Now once Bioware is too debt ridden to be profitable for EA, they will simply shut down the studio and the studio will take all debts with them to the grave, because the debt belongs to Bioware not EA. EA gets to keep the pofits while pushing the losses onto Bioware until Bioware is a blood-drained corpse and thrown into a shallow grave.

Yes, EA is not a private equity firm, but thats why they buy up dev studios, run them into the ground, and shut them down when its too much. Just rampant capitalism for ya, the green line must stay green and going up forever.

Cant post short links in this sub but go to google and search what i place below if you want to learn about PE firms and why they are a parasite.

The Dark Side of Private Equity | The University of Chicago Business Law Review

[u/N0va-Zer0 → u/YeeYeeBeep]

I'm tired of people copping out with "capitalism" being why studios go under.

You don't think it has ANYTHING to do with the slop they were putting out? The complete 180 from the previous games direction and stlye?

No? Just "muh captiliasm"?

Great.

[u/Drunk-Sail0r82 → u/N0va-Zer0]

It isn’t capitalism, that’s just a convenient excuse that’s popular with the morons of this age.

I promise, if anyone complaining was offered a million dollar payday with no strings- they’d take it in a heartbeat.

[u/YeeYeeBeep → u/N0va-Zer0]

ok, dont care, literally explains why it is capitalism, mind i think capitalism can work but only with government regulation to stop shit like this from happening. good day