The next Mass Effect game was cancelled and BioWare shut down because publisher EA wished to focus on a new Star Wars: Battlefront title instead of bringing both to market.
That is according to a new Bloomberg report from journalist Jason Schreier, who explains the situation EA was facing a few months ago.
As the publisher was reviewing its upcoming portfolio, executives “found themselves with two sci-fi action games that were each projected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars: Star Wars Battlefront III and the next Mass Effect title”. As a result, they decided to go with the Star Wars game because it was seen as a “less risky, more predictable bet”.
Schreier says Star Wars Battlefront 3 hasn’t even entered development yet at EA DICE and Respawn Entertainment, yet the publisher still opted to go with it over Mass Effect.
There were other factors at play in relation to the closure, like the reception of BioWare’s more recent games (Mass Effect Andromeda and ANTHEM), and the disappointing sales of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The latter resulted in EA heavily cutting the RPG developer’s workforce, and when it was closed last week, just 50 employees remained at the studio.
However, the driving force behind BioWare’s closure was the investment needed to bring Mass Effect to market, and the risk it represented when compared to Star Wars Battlefront 3. Schreier concluded the piece with: “Game budgets have grown exponentially while sales have not, driving game companies to shift development outside of North America and focus only on their biggest franchises moving forward.”
“And Star Wars is bigger than most.”
Since the news broke last week, fans of the Mass Effect series have rallied to try and save it by starting petitions and paying for billboards to advertise the campaign. Seemingly, though, it’s all going to be in vain.
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