Analysts Say Closing BioWare and Cancelling Mass Effect Was No Surprise for EA
Cancelling Mass Effect And Closing BioWare Was An Obvious Thing For EA To Do, Experts Say
EA confirmed it is closing BioWare and cancelling its upcoming Mass Effect game. Analyst Joost Van Dreunen told IGN that EA carries $18 billion in debt from its leveraged sale to Saudi Arabia's PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity, with about $1.8 billion in annual interest exceeding its $1.5 billion in yearly EBITDA, making a roughly 50-person team years from launch the easiest cut. Ampere Analysis's Piers Harding-Rolls cited Dragon Age: The Veilguard missing sales expectations and the commercial disappointments of Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem.
Analysts place BioWare's closure and the Mass Effect cancellation within EA's roughly $18 billion debt and leveraged buyout.
Source: GameSpot · gamespot.com