The postmortem on BioWare, following their shuttering by EA this month, points to the publisher’s preference to back Star Wars Battlefront 3 over Mass Effect 5 as the main factor in the demise of the beloved RPG developer. That’s according to Bloomberg, who also report that a couple of other factors likely also had some influence.
The Bloomberg report paints EA’s position as being one of a company caught between spending a bunch of money on a Star Wars shooter-shaped rock and a hard place with a sign that read Mass Effect 5. Disney reportedly swooped in to offer the publishers the opportunity to make Star Wars Battlefront 3 around the time EA were, as a result of being saddled with debt as part of the leveraged buyout which saw the Saudi government and private equity take them over, looking to not to spend as much cash.
So, Star Wars and Mass Effect became a decision of whether Star Wars or Mass Effect would be the better bet to stick projected hundreds of millions of dollars on. The suits, quelle surprise really, went for the series that currently sits just below powerhouse money-maker Winnie the Pooh on Wikipedia’s list of the highest-grossing media franchises. Battlefront 3’s development reportedly hasn’t even kicked off yet, but it’s got that safe and predictable big name to it, and will be a shooter to nestle among EA’s treasured flotilla of gun and ball games, rather than an RPG.
Bloomberg add that that BioWare’s well-documented up and down record with game releases since Mass Effect: Andromeda began a skid which Anthem only made worse and Dragon Age: The Veilguard couldn’t arrest also played a role. Potentially also in the mix was some corporate chair and nameplate switching among EA’s execs this summer, which saw EA Sports-linked suits David Tinson and Cam Weber promoted while reported BioWare advocate Laura Miele was sidelined via promotion from overseeing EA’s non-sports studios to a gig based around helping big boss Andrew Wilson pursue “strategic growth opportunities beyond EA’s core business”.
For what it’s worth, an EA spokesperson told Bloomberg the company “collectively” decided to shoot BioWare into space “following months of planning, review, and analysis, including careful consideration of evolving business conditions, industry dynamics, and our long-term priorities”.
And so, BioWare’s body has been sent to the stars, while Respawn and DICE look set to make Battlefront 3. There is a bit of depressing irony in EA deciding to go for the perceived safe bet of a big name licensed game over taking some risk on a game that’d come without Disney as a rights-holding middleman. This is, after all, the company which in 2022 ditched governing body Fifa as the namesake and licensing partner of their very successful football games, choosing the risk of going it alone with a lesser brand EA would have more direct control over and ownership of rather than sticking with an established big name juggernaut.
Then again, you could probably call EA’s soccer games something like ‘Hey, you, person reading this: the (insert year here) football game you’re looking at thinks your face is ugly and your haircut’s stupid’ and they’d still fly off the shelves.