According to a new Bloomberg report, EA shut down BioWare mainly because it chose to fund a new Star Wars Battlefront game over the next Mass Effect. The publisher reportedly decided it could afford one expensive sci-fi action game, not two, and judged Star Wars the safer bet.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier set out the reasoning in his newsletter on 30 October, nine days after EA announced it was closing the studio and ending the next Mass Effect. As relayed by VGC, the report cites anonymous sources familiar with the situation. It says EA’s executives found themselves with two sci-fi action games, each projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars: Star Wars Battlefront III and the next Mass Effect. The Mass Effect project is now believed to have been titled Mass Effect Universe. According to Push Square, the sources said executives saw Battlefront as a “less risky, more predictable bet”.
Schreier shared the story on X, where he dismissed two theories circulating online about the closure. As reported by Inven Global, one blamed the studio’s failure on being “too woke” and the other blamed Saudi Arabia, and his answer was simply “Star Wars”. The money still ties back to Riyadh, though. VGC reports that Bloomberg’s sources point to the $18 billion of debt placed on EA by its acquisition by Saudi Arabia’s investment fund. Inven Global adds that the buyout, a roughly $55bn deal led by the Public Investment Fund with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, closed on 4 August.
In a follow-up post, Schreier argued that EA needs predictable annual cash flow to service that debt. A Battlefront 3 that hits its deadlines is therefore worth more to the company than a Mass Effect likely to slip several times, he wrote.
Battlefront 3 hasn’t started yet
The odd part of the trade is that Push Square reads the report as saying Battlefront 3 hasn’t entered development at DICE and Respawn. EA didn’t name the game when it announced the closure. According to Inven, the company’s memo said only that Respawn and DICE would join forces on an unnamed “future project” to grow its shooter line-up. Variety reported that multiple sources confirmed the project is Battlefront 3 for Lucasfilm, as VGC covered at the time.
It’s a franchise with a bumpy history. When Star Wars Battlefront 2 launched in 2017, microtransactions drew intense backlash and EA removed them. VGC points out that community sentiment had recovered by the time support ended in 2020, and that the game hit its highest Steam concurrent player counts in 2025.
Other factors, and EA’s response
Bloomberg doesn’t claim Star Wars was the only reason. VGC says the report also points to BioWare’s recent games reviewing worse than its older titles, and to corporate politics, but frames the Battlefront-versus-Mass Effect call as one of the main drivers. Push Square adds that disappointing Dragon Age: The Veilguard sales led EA to cut the studio heavily, leaving about 50 employees when it closed.
EA didn’t dispute the account or add detail. The company told Bloomberg it “collectively reached this decision following months of planning, review, and analysis”. It said it has to “focus our teams on the biggest opportunities for our future”, including new projects across its portfolio. The statement doesn’t mention Star Wars or Mass Effect.
For fans, the report changes the framing more than the outcome. The game BioWare was working on is gone, and the EA memo quoted by Inven described it as early development by “a small team”. Whether the franchise itself has a future is a separate question, and ex-BioWare producer Mark Darrah has suggested EA may sell Mass Effect and Dragon Age, or just bury them. VGC has also reported that a “Save Mass Effect” petition passed 200,000 signatures, and that Amazon’s Mass Effect TV series is reportedly unaffected by the closure.
Has EA confirmed it chose Battlefront 3 over Mass Effect?
No. EA’s statement to Bloomberg cites months of planning and review without naming either game, and its memo doesn’t name Battlefront 3. The link rests on Bloomberg’s anonymous sources and Variety’s.
Is Mass Effect finished?
EA has cancelled the game BioWare was developing and closed the studio. It hasn’t said what happens to the series or the rest of BioWare’s catalogue.
When will Star Wars Battlefront 3 arrive?
There’s no announcement, platform list or date. Bloomberg’s report says the game hasn’t entered development, so a launch looks some way off.
