It has been one of the busiest, and in places saddest, weeks of the year for the games industry. A legendary RPG studio has closed, the biggest launch of the year is three weeks away, and award season is warming up. Here is everything important that happened, explained simply.
EA closes BioWare after more than 30 years
The week's biggest story came on 21 October, when Electronic Arts announced that around 400 staff, roughly 3% of its workforce, would be laid off. Soon after, BioWare confirmed that its entire team had been let go and that the studio itself would close.
BioWare is one of the most famous names in role-playing games. Over three decades it made Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, the Mass Effect trilogy and the Dragon Age series. The studio said early development on the next Mass Effect game has now ended, so that project is effectively cancelled.
In a memo to staff, EA leadership blamed "industry changes" and said that competition for players' time is intensifying. EA did not give a specific reason for closing BioWare. The move follows EA's US$55 billion buyout by an investor group led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which completed in August 2026, although no direct link has been confirmed. A live-action Mass Effect series in development at Amazon is reported to be unaffected.
The fallout was felt quickly elsewhere. A Battlefield 6 crossover with Mass Effect, revealed earlier in October alongside Season 5, appears to have been pulled, according to IGN. Anonymous sources also told the newsletter Vertical Slice that the layoffs reached several other EA teams, including those behind Skate, Battlefield, Apex Legends and The Sims.
2026 has been a hard year for game developers. Before this week, Sony had closed Bluepoint Games in February, Epic announced more than 1,000 layoffs in March, and Microsoft announced 1,600 Xbox job cuts in July. BioWare's closure is one of the most symbolic losses so far because so many players grew up with its games.
BioWare's legacy: three decades of RPGs
To understand why so many players reacted so strongly, it helps to look at what BioWare made. The studio was founded in Edmonton, Canada, in 1995 by doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, and Electronic Arts agreed to buy it in 2007.
| Year | Game | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Baldur's Gate | Brought tabletop Dungeons & Dragons role-playing to PC on a grand scale |
| 2000 | Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn | Still regarded as one of the greatest RPGs ever made |
| 2002 | Neverwinter Nights | Gave players tools to build and share their own adventures |
| 2003 | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | A Star Wars story with real moral choices, set thousands of years before the films |
| 2005 | Jade Empire | A martial-arts fantasy world inspired by Chinese myth |
| 2007 | Mass Effect | The start of a sci-fi trilogy where choices carried over between games |
| 2009 | Dragon Age: Origins | A dark fantasy RPG that launched a long-running series |
| 2010 | Mass Effect 2 | Widely seen as the high point of the trilogy |
| 2012 | Mass Effect 3 | Concluded Commander Shepard's story |
| 2014 | Dragon Age: Inquisition | Won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2014 |
| 2017 | Mass Effect: Andromeda | A new setting for the series, with a mixed reception |
| 2019 | Anthem | An online action game that struggled to find an audience |
| 2024 | Dragon Age: The Veilguard | The studio's final major release in the Dragon Age series |
Two ideas are closely linked to BioWare's name: choices that change the story, and companion characters whose friendships and romances players still talk about years later. Many studios, including the team behind Baldur's Gate 3, have built on that tradition.
What happens to games when a studio closes?
A studio closing is sad news, but it does not usually mean your games stop working. Here is what generally happens:
- Single-player games you own keep working. Discs, digital purchases on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and the EA app normally stay in your library, because the publisher, not the studio, sells them.
- Online features may eventually end. Multiplayer servers and online events depend on the publisher keeping servers running. Publishers usually announce shutdown dates in advance.
- Updates and patches stop. With no team left, there are unlikely to be new fixes or content for that studio's games.
- The brand usually survives. Publishers keep the rights to series names, so Mass Effect and Dragon Age belong to EA and could, in theory, return with a different team in the future.
GTA 6 is still on track for 19 November
Despite constant online rumours of another delay, Grand Theft Auto VI is still dated for Thursday 19 November 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The PlayStation Store lists it as a PS5 Enhanced title, and store pages show a midnight local-time unlock. Rockstar has not announced a PC version yet. We have a full explainer in GTA 6: Release Date and Everything We Know.
Mass Effect and Dragon Age: where the series stand
With BioWare gone, fans are asking what happens to its two biggest series. Officially, both still belong to EA. The Mass Effect trilogy is available in a single remastered package, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, released in 2021, which is the easiest way to play Commander Shepard's whole story today. The Dragon Age series is playable from Origins in 2009 through to The Veilguard in 2024 on PC and consoles.
The next Mass Effect game had been in early development for several years, after a teaser at The Game Awards in 2020. Its cancellation means there is now no announced new game in either series. History shows that famous names rarely disappear forever, but any future return would depend on EA's plans and would be made by a different team.
Marvel's Wolverine was September's best-selling new game in the US
According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine was the best-selling new release in the United States in September 2026, and Sony's biggest launch since Helldivers 2 in 2024. It beat several other big September releases, including Onimusha: Way of the Sword, The Blood of Dawnwalker and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave.
Saros gets its big "Zenith" update
Housemarque released the free Zenith update for its PS5 action game Saros on 19 October. It adds a boss rush mode, New Game+ and optional gameplay modifiers such as a slower game speed and auto-fire. Those modifiers are good news for players who found the game's difficulty too high, because they make the game more accessible without changing the core challenge for everyone else.
Funcom announces layoffs and restructuring
Funcom, the studio behind Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles, laid off staff. The cuts were mentioned in an announcement about the company's new CEO, Scott Junior, which said the studio would "enter a period of restructuring".
Report: next Xbox could be very expensive
A Fortune profile of Xbox chief Asha Sharma reported that Microsoft's next console could cost as much as US$2,000, that a handheld is expected next year, and that the main console is aiming for a 2028 launch. None of this has been officially announced by Microsoft, so treat it as a report rather than confirmed news.
Game Pass: second October wave
Microsoft named the next batch of Game Pass additions for October: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, The Séance of Blake Manor, Dodo Duckie and Mouthwashing. Final Fantasy VII Remake is the headline, and a great chance to try the modern version of the classic RPG if you have not already.
Our take on the week
It is hard to remember a week with such a mix of highs and lows. On one side, the industry is heading into what could be the biggest launch in its history, with sales records likely to fall when GTA 6 arrives. On the other, one of the most respected studios in the world has closed and hundreds of developers are looking for work. Both stories point to the same reality: the biggest games are bigger than ever, while the space for everything in between is getting tighter. That makes it a good time to support the smaller and independent games you enjoy, by playing them, reviewing them and telling friends about them.
Golden Joystick Awards: vote before 30 October
Voting for the Golden Joystick Awards' Ultimate Game of the Year closes on 30 October 2026. The winner will be announced at the ceremony at the Troxy in London on 11 November. The 12 nominees are:
- 007 First Light
- Big Walk
- Control Resonant
- Crimson Desert
- Dispatch
- Forza Horizon 6
- Phantom Blade Zero
- Pokémon Pokopia
- Pragmata
- Resident Evil Requiem
- Star Wars: Galactic Racer
- The Blood of Dawnwalker
After that, the biggest awards night of the year is The Game Awards, which takes place in Los Angeles on 10 December 2026.
Why so many layoffs in 2026?
Studio closures and job cuts have been a constant theme in the games industry since 2023. Companies rarely give one single reason, but analysts and the companies themselves tend to point to the same pressures:
- Rising costs: big modern games can take five years or more and very large teams to make, so a single disappointing release can hurt a studio badly.
- Competition for time: a handful of huge games such as Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox take up a large share of players' hours, leaving less room for new releases.
- Over-hiring during the pandemic: many companies grew quickly in 2020 and 2021 when people were playing more at home, then cut back when growth slowed.
- Mergers and new owners: when companies are bought, the new owners often look for savings, which can mean closing studios or cancelling projects.
For players, the result is fewer big-budget games from long-established studios, but also a strong period for smaller and independent games, which often cost less to make and take more creative risks.
How to follow gaming news without falling for rumours
Weeks like this one are full of rumours, leaks and "insider" claims. A few habits help you tell fact from speculation:
- Check the source. An announcement on a company's own website, blog or official social media account is confirmed news. A post from an anonymous account is not.
- Look for the word "reportedly". When news outlets say "according to sources" or "reportedly", the information has not been officially confirmed, even if it later turns out to be true.
- Wait for two independent sources. If only one person or website is reporting something, treat it with caution.
- Be wary of dates in rumours. Delay rumours appear around almost every big game. Trust the official release date until the publisher says otherwise.
That is the approach we take in our own articles: confirmed facts are stated plainly, and reports are clearly labelled as reports.
What to watch next
- 29 October: Phantom Blade Zero launches on PS5 and PC.
- 11 November: Golden Joystick Awards.
- 19 November: GTA 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
- 10 December: The Game Awards.
For the full list of new games, see New Game Releases in October 2026 and Upcoming Games: November and December 2026.
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