Inside and outside Electronic Arts, everyone is bracing for what’s sure to be a very different company now that it’s fully owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. But the fate of one game in particular may be more perilous than any other: the next Mass Effect.
Are we actually getting the Mass Effect game EA and BioWare teased back in 2023? One former high-ranking EA boss isn’t sure. Emmanuel Rosier, who spent nine years as a senior manager at EA, told PC Gamer that the continued funding of BioWare is in question.
“Then in the middle you have these IPs like the BioWare IPs,” Rosier said. “They’ve been struggling as a studio, as a brand have been struggling in recent years, and I don’t know if they will keep funding that one. I think that’s the biggest question mark for me.”
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Asked directly if EA would actually drop BioWare and cancel the game altogether, his answer wasn’t reassuring. “I will believe it when I see it, the next Mass Effect game, let’s put it that way,” he said.
Rosier, who left EA in 2024, is now the director of market intelligence at industry analyst Newzoo, so he’s viewing things from a business perspective. Unfortunately, now that EA has been saddled with $20bn in debt, the publisher is expected to more aggressively leverage its biggest franchises, potentially leaving little room for single-player games or those that don’t have the earning potential of EA Sports FC Ultimate Team or Apex Legends.
Indeed, even BioWare veteran Mark Darrah has doubts about the future of Mass Effect and the studio he once worked for under new EA management. Reacting to the initial announcement of the $55bn buyout, Darrah said EA might sell off studios that have struggled in the last few years, haven’t been very profitable, haven’t shipped a game in a while, or make “the kind of games that this new company isn’t interested in making any more”.
We recently spoke to a number of industry experts to try and chart what the future of EA might look like under Saudi ownership. Our piece touches on the different possible scenarios, including potential layoffs, game cancellations, and how the company’s culture will be affected as a result.
