The Dreadwolf rises mural from Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.

EA’s BioWare will lay off 50 and cut ties with unionized Keywords playtesting group

Electronic Arts said that its BioWare studio based in Edmonton, Canada, is laying off 50 people on the team even as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is in the late stages of development.

The layoffs will likely be a blow to morale at the studio and make the development environment more difficult. Gary McKay, general manager of the developer, told employees in a statement today that the move is mean to make the EA owned developer a more agile and more focused studio. EA has an estimated 12,000 to 13,000 employees, and BioWare had perhaps 250 people.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.