EA Shut Down BioWare and Canceled Mass Effect to Bet on Star Wars Battlefront III, Report Says

EA closed BioWare and canceled its next Mass Effect because it decided to put its money into Star Wars Battlefront III instead, according to a Bloomberg report by Jason Schreier, per Push Square. A portfolio review weighed two sci-fi action games, each "projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars," and EA picked Star Wars as the less risky, more predictable bet.

"Game budgets have grown exponentially while sales have not," Schreier wrote. Battlefront III hasn't entered development yet; it is set to be made by DICE and Respawn Entertainment.

The details

• Closed: BioWare, announced October 21
• Canceled: the next Mass Effect, which all ~50 remaining staff were working on
• Chosen instead: Star Wars Battlefront III, from DICE and Respawn, not yet in development
• Report: Bloomberg, Jason Schreier
• Still alive: Amazon's Mass Effect TV series, reportedly still in production

What else led to BioWare's closure?

Bloomberg's sources pointed to a string of setbacks beyond the budget decision, per Game Informer: the reception of 2017's Mass Effect: Andromeda, the failure of 2019's Anthem, and 2024's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which reportedly missed EA's sales expectations by 50% despite positive reviews. After years of layoffs, about 50 employees remained when the studio closed.

The closure comes after EA went private in a $55 billion acquisition last year, with investors including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners. Game Informer noted that no official statement links the closure to BioWare's progressive stance, though it pointed to an earlier Kotaku report that BioWare scrubbed diversity from demos to avoid negative feedback from EA.

What happens to Mass Effect now?

Fans have started petitions and paid for billboards to save the series. For now, the only Mass Effect project still reported to be moving forward is Amazon's TV adaptation, which leaves the franchise with a TV show and no studio.

Why it matters

Bloomberg's report describes a straight budget comparison: two games projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, with EA choosing the licensed Star Wars shooter over the original RPG. The decision ended BioWare after more than 25 years and left Battlefront III yet to start development.