EA Shuts Down BioWare, 78 Days After Its $55B Sale

EA shuts down BioWare: on October 21, 2026, Electronic Arts closed the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, and ended work on the next Mass Effect, 78 days after its $55 billion buyout closed. In this episode: three doctors in Edmonton, Baldur's Gate, Elevation Partners, John Riccitiello, EA's 2007 deal for BioWare and Pandemic, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, the founders retiring, Andromeda and Anthem, Dragon Age: The Veilguard's 1.5 million players, Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners, the $210 a share haggle, $36 billion of equity and $20 billion of debt, the interest on the new bonds, and EA's letter to staff. Watch next:    • Nike Brought Back Its Old Boss. It's Getti...   Chapters: 0:00 Why did EA shut down BioWare? 0:55 What made BioWare different? 1:50 What did EA buy in 2007? 2:58 How did BioWare lose its way? 4:21 Was Dragon Age the last chance? 5:30 Who wanted to buy EA? 6:35 What does $20 billion of debt cost? 7:59 Why BioWare, and why now? 9:01 What happens to Mass Effect now? 9:25 What's the lesson? Sources (the 12 key ones; the other 70 are in the comments): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... Photo and video credits (Wikimedia Commons, used under their licenses; cropped or shown with a camera move only where the license allows; share-alike files are shown whole and unmodified): EA's headquarters, Redwood City (2011): King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Ray Muzyka (2011): Richard Cabrera, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Greg Zeschuk (2007): Q256, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... John Riccitiello (2018): TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... EA's headquarters, October 2007: User:Coolcaesar, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... public filing: SEC EDGAR, Public record, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... public filing: SEC EDGAR, Public record, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk (2011): Richard Cabrera, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... public filing: SEC EDGAR, Public record, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... The Public Investment Fund's tower, Riyadh (2024): Faisal Arif, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... public filing: SEC EDGAR, Public record, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... EA's head office, Redwood City: BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... public filing: SEC EDGAR, Public record, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... public filing: SEC EDGAR, Public record, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... Stock footage: 39 clips from Pixabay (Pixabay Content License), by wallybee43, soetwas6, conte_public, ChristianBodhi, D_Van_Rensburg, blackmarketmusic, Coverr-Free-Footage, computergottyt, ninosouza, gofurxp, Sachingh, Vlad_Aivazovsky, Graphitage1, AlexKopeykin, Josh_Malic, Natures_Embrace, ktstruongpham, DistillVideos, Hassas_Arts, MaxMedyk, huchideng0769, OrcaTec, 34168960, Roque_dg, Dx21, Hucklebarry, Life-Of-Vids Narration: AI voice. Animation and research: made for this channel. Company names and logos are used for identification and commentary; no affiliation. New business story every week: subscribe so you don't miss the next one. #BioWare #MassEffect #Gaming