EA's decision to shut down BioWare reportedly came down to a choice between two expensive sci-fi games, and the publisher backed a Star Wars project that has not even been announced. The other side of that choice was BioWare's next Mass Effect, a game that will now never be finished.
Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported that executives reviewing EA's portfolio for the next few years found themselves with two sci-fi action games that were each projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars: Star Wars: Battlefront 3 and the next Mass Effect title. Schreier wrote that the executives "chose to invest in Star Wars and shut down BioWare as a result," citing people familiar with the decision who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The winning project is still only an idea on paper. Star Wars: Battlefront 3 has not begun development yet and has never been officially announced, but EA's executives reportedly saw it as a less risky, more predictable bet than a new Mass Effect. The report added that the publisher behind Battlefield has always been more comfortable with shooters than with RPGs.
The timing was shaped by EA's new owners and the debt that came with them. The publisher's $55 billion leveraged buyout left it with roughly $18 billion in debt to service, and the report noted that EA needs predictable cash flow to pay it down. A Battlefront game that hits its deadlines was reportedly worth more to the company than a Mass Effect likely to be delayed multiple times.
The cancelled game, titled Mass Effect Universe, had been in the works since its announcement in 2020 but was still years away from completion. Its team of around 50 people had spent roughly a year and a half to two years helping finish Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which left the project in early development when EA pulled the plug. A trailer for the game surfaced online after the closure, along with an experimental score composer Austin Wintory had prepared while auditioning for the project.
Corporate politics reportedly played a part as well. Laura Miele, a senior executive described as one of BioWare's key advocates inside EA, was reportedly sidelined as EA Sports veterans David Tinson and Cam Weber were promoted. BioWare was also coming off a difficult decade, with Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem and Dragon Age: The Veilguard all failing to meet EA's sales expectations.
EA has not confirmed the reported reasoning behind the closure. A spokesperson for the publisher said the company "collectively reached this decision following months of planning, review, and analysis," pointing to evolving business conditions, industry dynamics and its long-term priorities. BioWare's closure was announced on October 21, ending more than three decades of work from the studio behind Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
For now, the project that reportedly won the argument exists only as a plan, with no development underway and no announcement from EA or Lucasfilm. Mass Effect, meanwhile, will continue on screen through its Prime Video series, even as the game series goes dormant. As the report concluded, game budgets have grown while sales have not, pushing publishers toward their biggest franchises — and "Star Wars is bigger than most."
