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New Mass Effect Cancelled So EA Can Focus on Star Wars Battlefront 3
By Thus states a recent Bloomberg article
by Liam Croft- Yesterday, 3:30pm
The forthcoming Mass Effect installment was aborted and BioWare was closed as publisher EA chose to prioritize a new Star Wars: Battlefront project rather than launching both titles.
This is according to a recent Bloomberg analysis from reporter Jason Schreier, who elucidates the predicament EA encountered a few months ago.
As the publisher was assessing its forthcoming lineup, the executives “discovered they had two sci-fi action titles each predicted to cost hundreds of millions: Star Wars Battlefront III and the latest Mass Effect installment”. Consequently, they opted for the Star Wars project because it was deemed a “less risky, more reliable choice”.
Schreier notes that Star Wars Battlefront 3 hasn’t even commenced development yet at EA DICE and Respawn Entertainment, yet the publisher still chose it over Mass Effect.
Additional elements contributed to the closure, such as the feedback regarding BioWare’s recent games (Mass Effect Andromeda and ANTHEM), along with the underwhelming sales of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. This led EA to significantly reduce the RPG developer’s staff, and by last week, only 50 employees were left at the studio.
Nevertheless, the main factor behind BioWare’s closure was the investment required to launch Mass Effect and the risk it entailed compared to Star Wars Battlefront 3. Schreier concluded the article with: “Game budgets have increased dramatically while sales have remained stagnant, prompting game companies to move development outside of North America and concentrate solely on their largest franchises going forward.”
“And Star Wars is larger than most.”
Following the announcement last week, fans of the Mass Effect franchise have mobilized to preserve it by launching petitions and funding billboards to promote the initiative.
