It looks like a collective decision was made at EA to shut BioWare down and focus on the biggest opportunities for the future.
According to a report from Bloomberg, EA execs met up to review their upcoming portfolio and were tasked with deciding which of two multi-million dollar sci-fi franchises to prioritise, opting for Star Wars Battlefront III and cancelling a new Mass Effect title.
“While this is never easy, we ultimately have to make tough decisions to focus our teams on the biggest opportunities for our future, including investing in new projects across our portfolio,”
The decision was made to ensure a more comfortable prediction for success, hedging its bets on Battlefront III being the less risky option between the two.
“As they reviewed EA’s portfolio for the next few years, the company’s executives found themselves with two sci-fi action games that were each projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars: Star Wars Battlefront III and the next Mass Effect title. They chose to invest in Star Wars and shut down BioWare as a result, said the people familiar, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Star Wars Battlefront III has not even begun development yet, but EA executives saw it as a less risky, more predictable bet than a new Mass Effect — and the publisher behind Battlefield has always been more comfortable with shooters than RPGs.”
The report goes on to share some other reasons as to why execs were worried about BioWare and Mass Effect. Namely, how EA saw Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard as financial letdowns, with the latter “missing sales expectations by 50%”.
Star Wars Battlefront III was just the source of rumours and speculation a few weeks ago, but now it seems like EA execs are ready to go all-in on another Force-sensitive shooter. The game still isn’t in active development yet, with rumours swirling that previous Battlefront developer DICE isn’t a firm lock on the project, and that Disney has even considered a pitch from Marathon and Halo creators Bungie for the new entry.
