Electronic Arts Once Wanted to Make Us Cry. Forty Years Later, It Finally Has.

"Can a computer make you cry?" That was how an EA advertisement in a magazine began back in 1983. EA founder Trip Hawkins wanted to change the way people perceived video games. Instead of presenting them as mere toys for children, he hired a rock photographer and had the game developers of the time photographed like rock stars or artists, dressed in stylish black clothing.

The central message of the campaign was that, until then, emotions such as laughter, love, and tears had been the domain of writers, filmmakers, and musicians. EA wanted to prove that software designers were becoming a new generation of artists. The company even sold its games in fold-out cardboard packaging resembling vinyl record sleeves rather than ordinary plastic cases. EA spoke of its ambition to create software worthy of the minds that used it, and of computers as tools capable of speaking "the language of dreams." It also presented itself as a company that provided an environment where talented, independent software artists could freely develop their creativity and push the boundaries of this new medium.

And for many years, all of that was true. The company was called Electronic Arts, and for a long time, it genuinely deserved the "Arts" part of its name. I still remember the excitement of seeing the EA logo when launching a game as a kid in the 1990s. Back then, you knew you were in for something good. Need for Speed, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper, Medal of Honor, and many others. And when you heard "EA Sports, it's in the game," you knew you weren't going to bed anytime soon. FIFA and NHL were excellent year after year, and there were other treats too, such as NBA Jam.

Fast-forward a few years, and EA had become a company that repeatedly "won" the award for the worst company in America. Not the worst gaming company, but the worst company overall. And just how bad does a company have to be to rank below everything else on the American market? The poll included oil corporations, banks associated with the financial crisis, retail chains criticized for their working conditions, and telecommunications giants. Just one year before EA's first victory, the same award had gone to BP, the oil company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 people and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Yet gamers at the time apparently felt a greater need to punish a video game publisher than those other corporations.

Interestingly, those years weren't actually that bad for EA in terms of the games it released. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Battlefield 4, Dead Space 2, FIFA Street, and later Titanfall. But it wasn't so much about the good games EA released. It was about the games it didn't release, the projects it killed, and the business practices it employed. Dungeon Keeper Mobile? An absolutely spectacular disaster. Microtransactions in Dead Space 3? The developers were pressured into adding them. The entire situation surrounding the new SimCity was enough to warrant the resignation of EA's leadership. It was one of the biggest gaming controversies of that decade. And all of this happened just 30 years after that advertisement.

Now, roughly 40 years after that ad, I'd personally go and stick that "worst company" award on their front door. In 2007, EA acquired BioWare, already a legendary RPG studio responsible for Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. And at the time, it seemed like a good move. Sure, EA already had a history of gutting studios and eventually shutting them down, but surely nobody would dare do something like that to BioWare. After all, BioWare wasn't Origin Systems, Bullfrog Productions, or Westwood. That same year, EA also acquired another well-known developer, Pandemic Studios. Two years later, after a round of layoffs, it shut the studio down.

Just a few days ago, we learned that BioWare had ultimately suffered the same fate as all those studios before it. It simply took much longer. And looking back, it's worth pointing out that EA apparently never really knew what to do with a studio like BioWare. EA primarily made shooters and sports games, which it later began monetizing aggressively while pushing for frequent releases. That's much harder to do with story-driven RPGs. They take years to develop, and their business model can't be built around annual sequels as easily as sports games can. Of course, you can cram microtransactions into them, but players will tear you apart if they feel those purchases come at the expense of the game itself. Just remember Mass Effect 3's multiplayer.

Or you can start systematically changing the very nature of the studio so it produces games that will somehow bring in the kind of money you want. And EA always wanted mountains of it. "They wanted every franchise to become a billion-dollar franchise," as Mark Darrah put it. According to him, EA internally set a target for each franchise to achieve a profit margin of at least 40%, representing a total profit of at least $50 million. But BioWare was never equipped to meet expectations like that, not even during its golden years. That's simply not how RPGs work. What did work, however, was the pressure being placed on the studio. The chaotic development of Inquisition and Andromeda followed.

By now, you've probably all heard the stories about the absolute mess that was Anthem's development, and how the game was essentially cobbled together into its final concept less than a year before release. The project involved many of the experienced developers responsible for BioWare's greatest hits, including Mike Gamble, Drew Karpyshyn, Casey Hudson, Mark Darrah, and others. It was supposed to be the future of storytelling, but more importantly, the future of BioWare itself. Even the people at the studio didn't really know what that was supposed to mean. They just wanted to save their jobs, so they came up with a concept intended to satisfy management's expectations. But it didn't work. Development was chaotic, things kept changing, and although the released game wasn't actually that bad, it certainly didn't become a major success. Post-launch support might have helped, but that was cut short too. And eventually, so was the game itself.

The experiments with the next Dragon Age and later Mass Effect? More consequences of the same problem, except this time BioWare had far fewer people left, as management had already begun gradually dismantling the studio. Over the years, BioWare's studios were relocated or closed, employees were reassigned to other EA teams to work on different games, and eventually layoffs spread everywhere. Longtime veterans departed, while years were spent simply trying to figure out what the next Dragon Age was even supposed to be. The original fourth installment, which had been in development between 2015 and 2017, was canceled by management so the developers could focus on a multiplayer game instead. Yes, a multiplayer Dragon Age, because that makes perfect sense, right? That version couldn't be completed either, so the team once again had to piece together whatever it could just to get something released. The promise was that the game would appeal to longtime fans with a purely single-player experience, but the final product clearly showed the signs of yet another confused hybrid with no coherent vision, or perhaps far too many visions over the years. A game that was being released simply because it had to be.

But at least Mass Effect was supposed to mark BioWare's true return. At the very least, it brought back many experienced developers who had worked on the studio's classics and returned years later to work on a franchise close to their hearts. You might not even have realized it, but Mass Effect 5 was being developed under the leadership of numerous veterans. Among them were Dusty Everman, a narrative designer who helped create the Normandy, and Parrish Ley, cinematic director on the original trilogy, who returned as creative director. Other longtime legends of the series, including Derek Watts and Preston Watamaniuk, were also involved, while development was led by Mike Gamble, a producer known for his work on previous Mass Effect games.

I have no idea how they managed to convince EA's leadership to let them make another Mass Effect. My guess is that it had something to do with the relatively low costs, because the team was genuinely small. The problem with large RPGs is that you can't really make them with small teams. At least not without spending many years doing so. BioWare had already been stripped down considerably over the years, and the team working on this project was indeed very small. But there was no shortage of enthusiasm, and you could tell from the developers' occasional statements that this was truly a passion project. That's why so many veterans had returned in the first place. It's just incredibly difficult to pull off something like this with a team that, according to some accounts, had been reduced to roughly 50 people.

And in the end, EA's new owners didn't even have to wait to see how the next Mass Effect would turn out. Just a few months after the acquisition was completed, a decision was made that ended both BioWare's existence and the development of its next game. Deep down, we'd all suspected for a long time that BioWare would eventually be shut down. We just thought it would happen after Mass Effect was released, not now. But apparently, the money is needed right now. EA's new owners are Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), investment firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, a private equity and investment firm. The transaction was valued at approximately $55 billion, with shareholders receiving $210 per share. As a result, EA became a privately held company, and its shares were delisted from the stock market.

What's particularly interesting, however, is how the acquisition was financed. The consortium used a combination of equity and loans, with debt financing reaching into the billions of dollars. In what is known as a leveraged buyout, part of the acquisition price is covered with borrowed money, which is then repaid under agreed terms. In EA's case, the financing reportedly involved approximately $20 billion in loans, while the final structure also included additional debt instruments.

This kind of financing brings new costs. Lenders expect both principal and interest payments, which can increase the pressure on the company's future profitability. Among the disclosed debt instruments were dollar-denominated bond issues carrying interest rates of 7.25% and 8.75%. These were specific bonds issued by the acquisition company Oak-Eagle AcquireCo, not necessarily the interest rates applicable to EA's entire debt. For EA, this means that in addition to financing game development, marketing, and day-to-day operations, the new ownership structure must also account for costs associated with the acquisition. The debt itself creates another reason to prioritize stable revenue and profitability. In an industry where major gaming franchises are expected to generate billions in revenue, the pressure to enforce financial targets is only likely to intensify.

Can a massive RPG being developed by a small team, still years away from release, meet those targets? Maybe someday. Maybe not. Perhaps someone in management would have to genuinely believe in it, perhaps even be a huge fan of the franchise. But does the new leadership even understand video games? Or was this acquisition simply an attempt to diversify their business interests in today's world? And so we now have a rather striking contrast. The first new game announced after the acquisition is a sequel to Fight Night. Which is fine. Boxing has its fans, and they've been asking for a new installment for years. But fan demand wasn't the reason for its revival. The reason is that EA knows how to make sports games profitable. They can be released frequently in one form or another, and they're relatively easy to monetize. Meanwhile, the first game canceled under the new ownership is a sequel to a legendary RPG franchise, with the entire studio being shut down along with it.

But this simply fits a pattern that began long before the acquisition. The difference is that the pressure will now become even greater. Three years ago, the single-player game Titanfall Legends was canceled, and part of its development team was laid off. Later came the Mandalorian FPS, which was also canceled, with more employees losing their jobs. Last year, Respawn's extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe was canceled, and approximately another 100 people were gone. That same year, Cliffhanger Games was shut down entirely, along with its Black Panther game. Bit Reactor, the studio that developed the turn-based strategy game Star Wars: Zero Company for EA, also faced serious problems. Just a few weeks before the game's release, Bit Reactor's management placed approximately 80% of its employees on mandatory unpaid leave. It was the only way to avoid layoffs and bankruptcy. This wasn't EA's decision, but rather the result of the studio's "internal business problems." However, the game has since started generating revenue, and some employees have returned to work.

I've gotten a little carried away with this article again, but I'm sad. Not because of one game or one studio, although I have to admit that this particular news genuinely shook me. As you can see throughout this article, however, this isn't a problem limited to one game or one studio. It's a problem caused by people gradually losing their understanding of what they actually have in their hands. And it's not a problem limited to one company either. It seems to be spreading across an increasingly large part of the industry. I've read comments suggesting that Mass Effect has so many fans that, following the leaked trailer, EA will surely revive the project, or at least sell the franchise so someone else can continue it.

The Mass Effect franchise, along with many other BioWare properties, belongs to EA. EA also owns Medal of Honor, Need for Speed, Burnout, SimCity, Dungeon Keeper, Road Rash, Command & Conquer, SSX, Mirror's Edge, Ultima, Wing Commander, Dead Space, and many other franchises. Once upon a time, they seemed just as untouchable as Mass Effect. After all, they have fans. Surely someone will bring them back. Or at least sell them so someone else can continue...

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