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Earlier this week, we learned that EA has sold to a consortium of investors who intend on taking the company private. Since then, more details have come to light, including the fact that the deal will saddle the company with a ton of debt, and as a result, several studios are bracing for major cuts, including BioWare.
A new report from Insider Gaming cites multiple sources within BioWare, who are now bracing for the impact of this acquisition. BioWare was already in a tough position, as the studio has not shipped a hit game for over a decade. Its last two new releases, Anthem and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, failed both critically and commercially.
Despite these recent misses, BioWare fans had hoped that the studio would return to form with the next Mass Effect game, which is being led by veterans responsible for many of the decisions behind the original Mass Effect Trilogy. However, the recent buyout has employees questioning how long the studio will last.
“Look at the negativity that came after Dragon Age. If we felt it was only going to get worse then, you can imagine what some of us think now”, one of the sources said. The report notes that a number of employees believe that BioWare will be one of the first studios hit by cuts after the buyout.
In the meantime, those who are working on the new Mass Effect will “keep working until they tell us we're done”. Others are already putting together portfolios and seeking employment elsewhere.
While the next Mass Effect game has been in the works for years already, it only had a small team attached to it. It is unclear if the studio will gain the resources to launch into full-scale production once the buyout takes place.
KitGuru Says: Apparently EA had already opened talks to sell off BioWare before this buyout took place. It will be interesting to see if those talks are revisited in an effort to make some short-term cash to lessen the financial burden from the high-interest loans used to make the buyout possible.
