Electronic Arts (EA) has unceremoniously shut down Canadian studio BioWare, and with said closure, the cancellation of an upcoming Mass Effect game. It was part of a wider layoff, which saw 400 staffers losing their jobs. The obvious contributing factor was the huge debt accrued as a result of the publisher’s leveraged buyout, but in the case of BioWare specifically, there was another contributing factor – the prioritisation of an upcoming Star Wars Battlefront title.
Bloomberg previously reported that in closing BioWare, EA will continue to invest in sports games, Apex Legends, and action-adventure projects. Part of that latter category was an upcoming Star Wars title, with mention of Respawn Entertainment and DICE working on a new project that is believed to be a new Star Wars Battlefront entry. More recently, the outlet cites sources that claim EA was recently offered the opportunity to make such a game by Walt Disney’s Lucasfilm.
