New reporting from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has shed additional light on EA’s decision to shut down BioWare and cancel Mass Effect 5. According to Schreier, the publisher ultimately opted to prioritise a new Star Wars Battlefront game, viewing it as a safer commercial investment than BioWare’s next RPG.
According to sources familiar with EA’s internal strategy, the publisher found itself weighing up two major science-fiction projects at a time of increased financial pressure following its recent buyout. One was the next Mass Effect, which remained years away from release despite reportedly making progress in pre-production. The other was a potential Star Wars Battlefront III, a new opportunity that emerged through Lucasfilm. Schreier reports that EA executives ultimately chose to invest in Star Wars, leading to BioWare’s closure and the cancellation of Mass Effect 5.
The report also points to a number of longer-term issues that contributed to BioWare’s downfall. Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem both failed to meet expectations, while Dragon Age: The Veilguard also missed EA’s sales targets. By the time BioWare was shut down, only around 50 employees reportedly remained at the studio, with many developers having already been reassigned elsewhere within EA.
What makes the report particularly interesting is that EA effectively already had its own answer to Star Wars. While no gaming franchise can match the global recognition of Star Wars, the Mass Effect trilogy became one of the industry’s defining sci-fi series, building a loyal audience through its world-building, characters and player-driven storytelling. EA also spent roughly a decade holding exclusive rights to develop major Star Wars games, yet outside of Respawn’s Jedi titles, the publisher often struggled to consistently capitalise on the licence. Battlefront II eventually became a success, but only after a troubled launch that became one of gaming’s biggest controversies. From a financial perspective, Battlefront III may have looked like the safer investment, but the decision raises an obvious question – why abandon one of gaming’s most beloved original sci-fi franchises in favour of a licensed property that EA itself has struggled to build consistent momentum around?
There was also great hope for more mainstream appeal for Mass Effect in the near future, as Amazon is still working on a big TV series around the Mass Effect IP. We’ve seen series like Fallout and The Last of Us benefit massively from shows set in those same universes. Now, the franchise finds itself in a much different position. While the TV series could still bring new fans into the Mass Effect universe, there is no longer a new game on the horizon to capitalise on that renewed interest.
KitGuru Says: If EA really had to choose between Mass Effect 5 and Battlefront III, do you think it made the right decision? Or should the publisher have backed its own wholly-owned franchise instead?
