The main reason behind Electronic Arts’ (EA) decision to shut down BioWare, the storied studio behind the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, has come to light. An opportunity to develop a third Star Wars Battlefront game with Walt Disney’s Lucasfilm reportedly played the decisive role.
According to a Bloomberg report cited by Oyun Günlüğü, EA executives reviewing the company’s portfolio for the coming years found themselves with two sci-fi action games, each projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars: Star Wars Battlefront 3 and the next Mass Effect. In the report by Jason Schreier, people familiar with the company’s strategy said EA chose to invest in Star Wars and shut down BioWare as a result. The sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Debt pressure and a safer bet
The Star Wars opportunity arrived as EA was facing new financial pressures. A $55 billion leveraged buyout led by Saudi Arabia’s investment fund, finalized in August, took EA private and saddled it with $18 billion in debt.
Star Wars Battlefront 3 has not even begun development yet, but EA executives saw it as a less risky and more predictable bet than a new Mass Effect. The report also notes that EA, the publisher behind Battlefield, has always been more comfortable with shooters than RPGs.
BioWare’s recent games fell short
Star Wars was not the only factor. BioWare’s recent games were not well received. 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda was mocked for its facial animations, while 2019’s Anthem was taken offline shortly after launch. The studio’s most recent release, 2024’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard, missed sales expectations by 50%, leading EA to gut BioWare and relocate many of its staff to other units within the company.
According to the report, all three games shared similar problems, including mid-production director changes, issues with the Frostbite engine and a haphazard development style known as “BioWare magic,” in which staff were assured that with enough hard work and overtime, their games would come together at the last minute. Dragon Age: The Veilguard also suffered from shifting mandates from EA that pushed it from single-player to multiplayer and back again.
In January 2025, EA cut jobs at BioWare, leaving only a small team to work on the next Mass Effect. Announced in 2020, the game was still in pre-production because its team had paused the project for two years to work on Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Developers were optimistic about the game’s vision but cautioned that it was still years from completion. Only 50 people remained at BioWare when the studio was closed.
Corporate politics may have played a role
The report says corporate politics may also have contributed to the closure. Over the summer, EA reshuffled its executive ranks, promoting EA Sports veterans David Tinson and Cam Weber while sidelining Laura Miele, who ran EA’s studios and was an advocate for BioWare and Mass Effect.
An EA spokesperson said the company “collectively reached this decision following months of planning, review, and analysis, including careful consideration of evolving business conditions, industry dynamics, and our long-term priorities,” but would not offer more specifics. “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 spokesperson added.
A story that began and ended with Star Wars
EA purchased BioWare in 2007 on the promise of an ambitious Star Wars game. BioWare’s founders had sold the studio in 2005 to Elevation Partners, a private equity firm started by wealthy investors including U2’s Bono. When Elevation co-founder John Riccitiello became EA’s CEO in 2007, EA bought BioWare and Pandemic, Elevation’s other major studio, for more than $800 million.
After the acquisition, BioWare released several successful Mass Effect and Dragon Age games. Star Wars: The Old Republic, the online RPG that drove the purchase, generated more than $1 billion in revenue, and 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition won Game of the Year at The Game Awards.
