Earlier this month, Electronic Arts was acquired by the consortium comprised of the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, and Silver Lake for $55 billion, making EA no longer a publicly traded company. This deal, announced back in September of 2025 and the largest leveraged buyout in gaming history, leaves EA with $20 billion in debt as part of the deal.
This debt could lead to massive layoffs and more aggressive monetization strategies and other significant big-cost measures, as reported by Jason Schrier on BlueSky. As one of the industry’s largest publishers, EA has a large number of IPs and studios under its belt, which have now become a target of significant cost-cutting. BioWare—which was acquired by EA in 2008 and has had a turbulent past few years, with its latest entry, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, underperforming in internal sales expectations—has become particularly vulnerable under the company’s new reality, and with it, the next Mass Effect.
Announced back at the Game Awards in 2020, Mass Effect 5 has been in development for almost six years and has revealed very little about its current stage in development. The lack of information has many wondering how EA’s new era of cost-cutting will impact the franchise and a studio that hasn’t been able to perform to EA’s standards. Emmanuel Rosier, a former senior manager at EA from 2015 to 2024, has also shared his own concerns in a recent interview with PC Gamer.
Rosier, who is currently a Director of Market Intelligence at Newzoo, expects that sports will remain the main focus for EA in this new future, with even a greater push for esports given how popular it is in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. EA Sports and its Ultimate Team mode have historically been among EA’s most consistent revenue drivers, with their live service and microtransactions generating billions every year, numbers that sound very attractive to a company that is now in considerable debt. That raises the question of what will happen to the IPs EA considers second or third tier in their roster. “I think probably they will leverage that either by just selling it or trying to find external studios that can work on that. Maybe mobile games,” Rosier shares.
When discussing BioWare and Mass Effect’s future specifically, Rosier’s answer offers very little reassurance to the fans of the franchise: “I will believe it when I see it; the next Mass Effect game, let’s put it that way.” Rosier notes in this interview the struggle BioWare has gone through the past few years, sharing his own doubts regarding its funding and future as a studio and as a brand within EA. “I think everything can happen at this moment. They can pull the plug very, very easily. And if the new investor doesn’t have that many feelings about the history of the portfolio, they will take the most financially sound decision, most probably.”
Still, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic about Mass Effect‘s future. Despite the underperformance of the franchise’s latest entry, Mass Effect: Andromeda, EA has continued to invest in the franchise. Former Dragon Age Executive Producer Mark Darrah has discussed his experiences at BioWare and EA’s preference for Mass Effect across several videos on his YouTube channel. In a recent interview with FRVR, Darrah remarks once again on EA’s view on the franchise over the Dragon Age series: “They look at something like Mass Effect and go, ‘Okay, it’s a Star Wars game.’ Like, I get it; even that might be too nerdy for me, but I get it.”
What EA’s acquisition means for Mass Effect and BioWare remains to be seen, but amid the uncertainty, there are reasons for cautious optimism. Mass Effect 5 is actively in development, and Executive Producer Michael Gamble has continued to reassure fans that the team is working hard on the game. There is also a Mass Effect TV show in the works. Announced by Variety back in 2024, the project seems to be moving forward, which has also been confirmed by Executive Producer Daniel Casey. For now, all we can do is wait and see how EA’s new ownership will shape the future of BioWare and Mass Effect.
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