EA reportedly closed BioWare in part over a new Star Wars Battlefront

Following its Saudi Arabian buyout, Electronic Arts is $18 billion in debt, and between putting millions into a new Battlefront or Mass Effect, it chose Battlefront.

With BioWare closing, details have emerged over what exact factors led to this point, one of which was apparently a deal with Disney to produce a new Star Wars: Battlefront. Given its recent acquisition and debt, Electronic Arts was said to have found itself saddled with a choice to put millions of dollars into a new Battlefront or BioWare’s next Mass Effect. It went with Star Wars.

This comes from a report by Bloomberg, which claimed to have spoken to sources familiar with the matter. It’s been about two months since the group composed of Silver Lake, Affinity Partners, and the Saudi Arabian PIF fund closed the deal on acquiring Electronic Arts for $55 billion, which left the developer $18 billion in debt. At the same time, Disney and Lucasfilm supposedly came knocking with the opportunity for a new Star Wars: Battlefront game. Faced with spending millions of dollars to support either a new Mass Effect or a new Battlefront, executives made a decision to cut one of the two, leading to BioWare’s closure.

There are most certainly more factors in BioWare’s closure than a Star Wars: Battlefront game. Underperforming sales of recent titles, a pull away from BioWare’s values within EA, and the ballooning cost of game development left a studio that had already lost a lot of its talent in limbo before the final nail was struck into the coffin.

Even so, it looks like another display of priorities for EA post-acquisitions, where it will continue to focus on its strengths and likely shed much along the way to control its debt. As we watch for more updates, stay tuned to the Electronic Arts topic for further news and content.

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