• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

Confronting the video-game industry’s changing landscape, Electronic Arts has decided to lay off 400 employees, and will shutter BioWare, a 30-year-old studio responsible for some of the company's most popular games.

Over the past several months, since EA Games went private in a $55 billion deal, the gaming company has focused on how to restructure its business in order to “drive sustained growth,” according to an internal memo written by Cam Weber, EA president and chief studios officer, and David Tinson, EA president and COO.

The company’s memo states that it is “concentrating” its “teams, technology, and investment” to help develop “clearer priorities, faster decisions, and teams that work more closely together.”

“Our industry is changing quickly,” the memo continues. “Players have more choices than ever for their time and attention, competition is intensifying, and some of our biggest opportunities for growth are beyond the markets, platforms, and business models where EA has traditionally been the strongest.”

In addition to cutting 3% of its global staff, EA Games is also closing BioWare, the iconic studio responsible for popular role-player games (RPGs) like “Baldur's Gate,” “Mass Effect,” “Dragon Age: Inquisition” and “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.”

As part of the studio's shutdown, EA canceled the early-stage development of the next "Mass Effect" project.

Moving forward, EA Sports is planning to commit to specific gaming category outputs, including its Sports, Lifestyle and Shooter portfolios.

The company remains committed to the upcoming releases of Marvel and Star Wars titles, but, according to Weber and Tinson, “will concentrate our efforts on fewer simultaneous, large-scale projects” in the near future.

In August, EA went private in a buyout led by Saudi Arabia's investment fund, onboarding about $18 billion in debt for the gaming company. Prior to closing the deal, EA told debt investors that it planned to cut $700 million in annual costs, including $170 million tied to “organizational efficiencies.”