GameDev Eng

In the world of AAA development, disasters rarely happen suddenly. When Electronic Arts announced in October 2026 that it was shutting down BioWare and canceling the next Mass Effect, it came as a shock to gamers. But for those who had been following the studio for years, the publisher’s decision came as no surprise. It was the culmination of a slow decline that had been going on for over a decade.BioWare’s journey is a story about how Canadian doctors with Ukrainian roots created the gold standard of role-playing games, how the internal "let’s get by on crunches" culture turned into poison, and how technological experiments, combined with the publisher’s financial debts, finally put an end to the studio’s 31-year history.

October's Steam Next Fest, traditionally the main event for indie game developers and gamers looking for new unique projects, was remembered not only for its loud hits, but also for a scandal that shook the game development community. Instead of a celebration of independent creativity, the platform faced an unprecedented influx of so-called "AI-slop" - low-quality, unimaginative games, mostly or completely generated using generative artificial intelligence tools. We talked to Ukrainian game development experts about the use of AI in development, whether the situation is really so catastrophic, and what Valve needs to do to avoid hate in the future.

Gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) has announced a major restructuring that will see it completely close its Canadian studio BioWare, cancel development of a new Mass Effect game, and cut about 3% of its global workforce. The layoffs will affect an estimated 400 company employees.