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BioWare’s closure has gone beyond the games industry and into Canadian federal politics. Just a few days after EA confirmed the Edmonton office is shutting down, a leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP)Avi Lewis posted on X that the developers should be helped to take over the studio.
Avi Lewis: give BioWare to its developers
Lewis blamed private equity directly. “This is private equity, this is what it does,” he wrote, accusing it of buying businesses, running them into the ground and breaking them up for short-term profit.
He argued that BioWare’s developers “know how to run the studio” and “know how to make the games we all love”, and said they should get “the first opportunity – and the federal support – to buy it and run it themselves”. He finished with a jab: “if we want to avoid the Mass Effect effect in Canada, we should be keeping private equity out, not welcoming it in.”
Lewis hasn’t set out what that federal support would look like, how a staff buyout would be funded, or whether EA would be willing to sell the studio or its IP.
The federal government responds
Eleanor Olszewski, the Liberal MP for Edmonton Centre and Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience, also commented on the closure. She said BioWare had “showcased Edmonton’s creativity and talent on the world stage since 1995”, and called the closure of Alberta’s most prominent video game developer “disappointing”.
She admitted games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age “were meant more for my kids”, but praised the work of the studio’s artists, programmers and developers. She said the government “will be there to work with partners to support home grown talent” in Edmonton. She didn’t respond to the idea of a staff buyout or commit to any specific support for BioWare.
Why private equity is part of the debate
Lewis’ comments refer to EA’s ownership. The publisher went private earlier this year after a $55 billion buyout led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, alongside Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, with PIF holding a 93% stake.
BioWare’s closure came as part of roughly 400 job cuts at EA, about 3% of its workforce.
Early development on the next Mass Effect game has ended, and according to a staff letter, EA are shifting investment towards sports titles, Apex Legends, Battlefield, and new Star Wars and Iron Man games. Star Wars: The Old Republic continues under Broadsword.
BioWare’s 31 years in Edmonton
BioWare was founded in Edmonton in 1995 by doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip. The studio made its name with Baldur’s Gate, then Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, before creating Mass Effect and Dragon Age, two of the most influential RPG series of their generation. EA acquired BioWare in 2007.
In recent years, the studio struggled with Anthem, which was shut down earlier this year, and Mass Effect: Andromeda and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which EA said fell short of its sales expectations.
