Why BioWare closed: EA picked Star Wars over Mass Effect, Bloomberg reports

Nine days after Electronic Arts closed BioWare and ended work on the next Mass Effect, Bloomberg has reported why. According to its Oct. 30 report, relayed by Kotaku and Game Rant, EA had an opportunity to make a new Star Wars multiplayer game with Lucasfilm and chose to put its money there rather than into Mass Effect: Universe. Both projects were expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and Bloomberg's sources said the Battlefront decision was the main reason among several.

The balance sheet set the terms. EA was taken private in a roughly $55 billion leveraged buyout that closed in August, according to Kotaku, about two months before the closure, as Video Games Chronicle notes. The company now carries around $18 billion of debt and pays roughly $1.8 billion a year in interest, VGC reports. Earlier in 2026, EA told debt investors it would cut $700 million in annual costs, including $170 million in what it called organizational efficiencies. Bloomberg's sources said the company reviewed its whole portfolio after the deal.

Star Wars Battlefront 3 had not started development as of Bloomberg's report, Kotaku notes. EA viewed a shooter as the lower-risk choice given its history of funding shooters over role-playing games. Bloomberg also pointed to a leadership change: Laura Miele, the former chief operating officer and chief studios officer and an advocate for BioWare inside the company, was replaced by David Tinson and Cam Weber, who came up through EA Sports. Game Rant adds that Bloomberg cited years of development problems and the rising cost of big-budget games, and that BioWare's recent titles drew a cooler response than the studio's earlier work, which put it under scrutiny.

What EA announced on Oct. 21

• BioWare is closing and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending, the studio said in its own statement.
• About 400 jobs are being cut companywide, roughly 3% of EA's staff, with about 50 of them at BioWare, Video Games Chronicle reports, citing Bloomberg.
• EA said it will keep investing in sports games, Apex Legends, Battlefield and action-adventure titles, including the next Star Wars Jedi game and Marvel's Iron Man.
• BioWare was founded in 1995 by Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk and acquired by EA in 2007. Its catalog includes Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

What happens to Mass Effect

EA still owns the franchise. A television adaptation remains in development at Amazon, and Game Rant reports there is no indication another game is planned. Fans have organized under #SaveMassEffect, and a Change.org petition asking EA to revive the game or license the series to another studio had nearly 300,000 signatures as of Oct. 30, according to Game Rant. Supporters plan a Mass Effect Legendary Edition play session on Nov. 7, the series' N7 Day, to push its player count on Steam.

For anyone who runs a studio inside a publisher, the lesson is in the math rather than the franchise. A leveraged buyout turns every greenlight into a comparison against the interest bill, and a licensed shooter that has not started development can beat a 30-year series with a fan base and a TV show on the way. Bloomberg's account is a report, not an EA statement, and EA's own explanation so far is the one above.