Report: EA prioritized Star Wars project over Mass Effect, linked to BioWare closure

moviesOct 30, 202621964

Bloomberg reported that Electronic Arts chose to invest in a new Star Wars shooter, Star Wars Battlefront 3, instead of funding a Mass Effect sequel, a decision Bloomberg and reporter Jason Schreier say was a key factor in BioWare's closure and the cancellation of Mass Effect 5. Multiple outlets and industry posts quoted the Bloomberg reporting that Battlefront 3 had been prioritized despite reporting that development on Battlefront 3 had not yet begun. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk said the shift toward Star Wars was “the final nail in the coffin,” and retired designer Warren Spector called the studio’s shutdown “utter bulls**t” and urged accountability for executives. The reporting frames EA’s choice between two high-budget sci-fi projects as the proximate business rationale behind layoffs and the studio shutdown, with Mass Effect effectively shelved while resources were redirected to the Star Wars project.

Brian Crecente

@crecente.bsky.social

Greg was kind enough to chat with me fresh off a fishing trip and finding out about the death of BioWare. 80.lv/articles/bio...

495Yesterday

Jeremy Peel3

A great interview, Brian! Really good to hear Greg’s voice amid the post-BioWare noise.

IJrges a plenty1

Ray and Greg were always great guys. What they put into the studio up to the acquisition was really admirable. The crunch sucked, but the people were great. Sad to see the place go. I hope Canada saves it.

Quoting this

Andrey 🤔 Upadyshev3

Чувак круто ушел из айтишечки

Shinobi602

@shinobi602.bsky.social

Bloomberg: Main reason behind BioWare's shutdown was that EA chose to invest in Star Wars: Battlefront 3 over the next Mass Effect Development on Battlefront 3 hasn't started yet ➡️ www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

1425h ago

Wallcroft7

I spent hundreds of hours in Battlefront, I love Star Wars games, I'm more of a games than movies fan even. But trading Mass Effect for Battlefront? Not even another RPG but a shooter? Especially now when EA doesn't have that exclusivity license and we have other studios doing Star Wars? Fuck this.

Weekend Alcoholic Kraken6

That's too bad, Mass Effect is infinitely more interesting than any of the shit they're doing with Star Wars these days.

Midnight Oil5

Seems more like it's due to the massive amount of debt that EA is now under due to the buyout, and they're *broke broke*

WildArms4

I feel for BioWare. Hopefully those people can land a job at either Archetype Entertainment or OwlCat games. The fact we have 2 Mass Effect like games that spawned out of BioWare's previous successes is a good thing.

Meretrix V1

Oh, fuck that. Then sell the IP to another studio to fund BF3 so they can make the game and hire the devs to do it.

Francis1

Let me very skeptical of the timeline of everything that unfold. August 4th : EA buyout closed. New: Saudi Arabia, Kushner and friends. October 19 : Alberta referendum that could open a crack in Canada's unity. But fortunately Albertan stay we don't even want to be question about it.

Quoting this

Lee Scheinbeim26

ah yes, small scrappy publisher EA, famously only able to develop a single title at a time

Ali Rose18

Cancelled for a game that hasn’t been started yet Hell is not deep enough for EA execs

DJ Shepherd➡️is Veilguarding!🐺🐉💜16

I am never ever ever ever ever ever buying from EA again ad king as Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner owns them! #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA #BoycottEA

NOLASCO 🎮16

Fecharam um estúdio inteiro, cancelaram o projeto muito promissor de um novo Mass Effect,demitiram a equipe inteira, para ficarem em um Battlefront 3... Na moral, eu desejo tudo de ruim para a EA,empresa maldita do krl.

Antagonist Spooker - BioWare FOREVER!15

Translation: Star Wars: Battlefront will bring in WAY MORE in microtransactions and loot boxes than a possible ME5 multiplayer might. That's all there is to it. ANYWAY #SaveMassEffect

Sweet Plasmids (Simon) 🎮13

This is a genuine question that I want to be more knowledgeable on. How does the AAA gaming industry REALISTICALLY fix itself? Mass Effect being seen as the non viable option is wild to me but it’s reality. How can these big tentpole titles be made cheaper? Would love to hear people’s thoughts.

baun9

I can accept that a live service Battlefront 3 will be a more profitable than Mass Effect: Universe would've been... BUT I find it impossible to believe that it was truly a "either/or" situation and this is just a lame excuse to shutter the Edmonton office. #savemasseffect

psykit4

Hey pals, could I tempt you to join the #SaveMassEffect movement? www.change.org/p/savemassef...

Drift Kaiser2

Oh that explains alot. Star Wars licence is expensive and can sell more than a new entry of Mass Effect from a game studio that lost everyone's trust after previous games flopped.

Worcanna - Audio Attack Spider w/Halloween mask on.2

I hate Star wars and Disney. Unlimitedly so.

Mass Effect News

@masseffectnews.bsky.social

80 LEVEL: BioWare Co-Founder Greg Zeschuk Says Studio Was Killed by Executives Who Have Never "Made a Game” 80.lv/articles/bio...

86Yesterday

The Drunk Cat™

@alcoholikaust.bsky.social

Reminder for folks upset over Bioware closure: a lot of key members of Bioware from Kotor to Mass Effect 3 are in this team- including the writer of ME1 and ME2, the lead gameplay designer for KOTOR and ME2 and a slew of other folks that made those games great dont sleep on this

422d ago

Quoting this

spoonshiro6

Support the talent, not the brand (Go buy Banner Saga too)

esquirrel, esq.3

plus--there are two novels out now by Peter F. Hamilton setting the stage for this universe www.goodreads.com/series/40267...

Second Wind

@secondwindgroup.com

The closure of BioWare is very sad, but also isn't all that surprising. The legacy big publishers are less and less interested in taking risks, and BioWare just didn't make the type of games that fit into that model anymore. @nickjcal.bsky.social breaks it all down in this week's Unpacked.

474h ago

Damion Schubert

@zenofdesign.com

EA *NEEDS* multiple lines of revenue across multiple genres to be a successful company and pay off their debt. The idea that Mass Effect competes too closely with a Star Wars shooter is just corporate spin.

263h ago

VGC

@videogameschronicle.com

One of the main reasons behind EA's decision to shut down BioWare was its focus on making Star Wars Battlefront 3 instead, it's claimed. A new report says the publisher was faced with two upcoming high-budget sci-fi action games, and chose to drop one. www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ea-chos...

185h ago

Ian4

They dropped the wrong one.

Quoting this

Dave Breens8

Mass Effect, the series created to get around not owning Star Wars, is finally killed by Star Wars

Tufty McTavish2

🗞️ I have never played SW Battlefront 1 or 2. But I have put 3 x 50h into the first three #MassEffect games and over 100h into #MassEffectAndromeda. So guess which new game would have been on my own radar… 🫤 Bottoms. 🎮 #VideoGames 🕹️

Matthew :)2

battlefront 3 better be the game of the fucking century then or else they'll have some explaining to do

Eurogamer

@eurogamer.bsky.social

EA reportedly closed BioWare because it was forced to choose between Mass Effect 5 and Star Wars Battlefront 3, and it chose the "less risky, more predictable bet" www.eurogamer.net/ea-closed-bi...

A blue-skinned feminine character and a fully-masked character stand at a bar. It's not a joke. It's a screenshot from a leaked trailer for Mass Effect Universe.

194h ago

Optimistic Doomer7

Clears billions a year but "can't afford" to make both

Will From Paris 🏳️‍🌈1

Yeah sure... this as nothing to do with these homophobic dudes that are MBS and Kushner trying to purge the "woke virus" in everything they touch...!

Quoting this

Cirkus6

Maybe I'm out of touch, but didn't the most recent Battlefront games get absolutely lambasted by basically everyone? Like I thought everyone hated those games.

Bertie6

That's what all that debt will do to you. It might have still made the same decision without it.

Cosmic Marvel

@dailycosmicmarvel.bsky.social

Development on ‘STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT 3’ has not begun yet. EA chose to invest in ‘Battlefront 3’ instead of a new ‘Mass Effect’ game and shut down BioWare as a result. (via www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...)

165h ago

Quoting this

Wicket2

And this is exactly why I said that I lost interest into the game bc not only EA shutting down BioWare and decided to be a bunch of homophobic bastards, but the development has even started yet like smh EA, smh.

Rock Paper Shotgun

@rockpapershotgun.bsky.social

EA execs choosing Star Wars Battlefront 3 over Mass Effect 5 was the main factor in BioWare's demise, according to report https://bit.ly/4sHEuSD

153h ago

DJ Shepherd➡️is Veilguarding!🐺🐉💜

@djshepherd.bsky.social

Warren Spector, the now-retired designer behind Deus Ex and System Shock, called the closure “utter bulls**t” in a LinkedIn post, and said the executives involved should lose their jobs instead of the developers. Source: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

12Yesterday

𝕁𝕠𝕙𝒶𝓃

@hausofjohan.bsky.social

”It’s actually, in some ways, saddest for the city of Edmonton, where we’re from, because we were kind of this beacon of hope and excitement and possibility. We showed you could do something really special in a place that was not known for doing things like that.” nordic.ign.com/mass-effect-...

10Yesterday

Antagonist Spooker - BioWare FOREVER!

@muirnara.bsky.social

What gets me is that...IF this is true, EA just threw another dev team under the bus bc a bunch of Star Wars AND Battlefront fans ADORE Mass Effect and won't like this one bit. IDGAF about either Star Wars (anymore) OR Battlefront but DANG, EA is bungling this shit like only they can.

83h ago

CajunGeek

@cajungeek.tv

Yeah, that statement from Josh ruined any goodwill I had with the blog. Especially considering in June was the 3rd layoff Bungie had done, yet was able to find a "partner" to help with the unvaulting. This stings equally worse after the Bioware studio closure and layoffs.

4Yesterday

xangpow.bsky.social

@xangpow.bsky.social

Here is my question. Who is asking for Star Wars Battlefront 3? Before the shut down of Bioware, who was asking for another Mass Effect game? I feel like this was more about politics than money.

55h ago

3 sources

france24.comStar Wars: Has Russia's war with Ukraine gone intergalactic?adrenaline.com.brStar Wars decretou o fim da BioWare, afirma Bloomberg - Adrenaline eurogamer.netEA reportedly closed BioWare because it was forced to choose between Mass Effect 5 and Star Wars Battlefront 3

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Report: EA prioritized Star Wars project over Mass Effect, linked to BioWare closure

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