EA’s Long Record of Buying and Closing Game Studios

Electronic Arts has announced the closure of BioWare and the cancellation of an in-development Mass Effect sequel. The decision highlights a pattern that has followed EA for decades: acquiring established studios, reshaping their teams and eventually shutting them down.

EA has changed ownership, leadership and business priorities over the years, but its history of studio closures remains remarkably consistent. Since the company was founded in 1982, it has built a reputation for acquiring developers and publishers, then dismantling or closing many of them after periods of restructuring.

EA even received the “Worst Company in America” award in 2012 and 2013. Whatever its strengths as a major publisher, protecting the identity and long-term future of acquired studios has not been a consistent one.

EA’s studio closures over the years

EA acquired its first studio only five years after being established, closing it in the same year. The purchases and shutdowns continued through the following decades, affecting role-playing, simulation, sports, strategy, online and mobile developers.

The following list records the studios, developers and publishers identified in this history:

• Batteries Included — purchased in 1987 and closed that same year.
• Origin Systems — purchased in 1992 and closed in 2004.
• Bullfrog Productions — purchased in 1995 and closed in 2001.
• Maxis — purchased in 1997 and closed in 2015. EA continues to use the Maxis name.
• Westwood Studios / EA Pacific — purchased in 1998 and closed in 2003.
• Kesmai — purchased in 1999 and closed in 2001.
• DreamWorks Interactive / Danger Close Games — purchased in 2000 and closed in 2013.
• Black Box Games — purchased in 2002 and closed in 2013.
• NuFX / EA Chicago — purchased in 2004 and closed in 2007.
• Hypnotix — purchased and shut down in 2005, with its team folded into EA Tiburon.
• Mythic Entertainment — purchased in 2006 and closed in 2014.
• Phenomic Game Development — purchased in 2006 and closed in 2013.
• Headgate Studios / EA Salt Lake — purchased in 2006 and closed in 2017.
• Pandemic Studios — purchased in 2007 and closed in 2009.
• J2MSoft — purchased in 2008 and folded into EA Korea.
• Playfish — purchased in 2009 and closed in 2013.
• Chillingo — purchased in 2010, began shutting down in 2017 and was fully closed in 2023.
• Industrial Toys — purchased in 2018 and closed in 2023.
• BioWare — purchased in 2007 and closed in 2026.

Why the total is difficult to calculate

By this count, BioWare is the 19th EA-owned studio or game publisher acquired and later closed since 1987. The precise total is difficult to establish because EA has moved staff between divisions, absorbed teams into other studios and retained some names after the original organisation disappeared.

Maxis is a clear example. The name remains part of EA, but the original studio behind SimCity was shut down in 2015. Batteries Included followed a similar pattern much earlier: EA acquired it in 1987 and closed it during that same year.

These distinctions matter when discussing a publisher’s history. A brand can survive on paper while the people, structure and creative identity associated with the original studio have already gone.

A familiar pattern in the games industry

The closures do not prove that EA is deliberately trying to damage the wider games industry, but they do show how frequently large acquisitions have ended in lost teams and discontinued studio identities. For developers and players, each shutdown can mean fewer creative voices and the disappearance of specialised expertise.

EA’s move into private ownership and its new group of owners have not removed those concerns. The available history offers little reason to assume that acquisitions and closures will stop, particularly in an industry where financial targets can outweigh the value of long-established teams.

For more stories about the business and history of games, explore the RETROCADE Arcade Blog. If you are bringing classic gaming into your home, our arcade machine buying guide covers the main choices, from full cabinets to compact bartop arcades. Home builders can also browse arcade parts and DIY arcade kits.