EA Reportedly Picked Star Wars Battlefront 3 Over Mass Effect Before Shutting Down BioWare

Electronic Arts reportedly chose a new Star Wars: Battlefront game over the next Mass Effect title before shutting down BioWare. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier reports that EA executives weighed the two expensive sci-fi projects and decided which deserved funding.

EA reportedly saw Star Wars as the safer bet

According to Schreier’s Bloomberg report, EA faced two sci-fi action games projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. One was the next Mass Effect, which BioWare had already been developing. The other was a new Star Wars: Battlefront project reportedly being considered with Lucasfilm.

Executives reportedly viewed Battlefront as a less risky, more predictable investment. The surprising part is that the new Star Wars game reportedly had not even entered development at DICE and Respawn Entertainment. Mass Effect, meanwhile, was already in early development at BioWare.

EA has not publicly confirmed that Battlefront directly caused BioWare’s closure. In its latest announcement, the company said it was concentrating resources on fewer, larger projects and would stop development on the next Mass Effect.

BioWare’s troubled recent years added to the pressure

The studio had struggled to match its earlier success. Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem faced disappointing reception, while Dragon Age: The Veilguard reportedly missed EA’s sales expectations. BioWare had already undergone significant cuts before the closure.

EA also went private in August through a $55 billion buyout led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. The deal reportedly left the company carrying around $18 billion in debt, increasing pressure to control spending.

Do note that Battlefront 3 has not been formally announced by EA, so its future remains unclear. Will this reported bet on Star Wars pay off, or will the loss of Mass Effect haunt EA? That’s something only time will tell.