EA has a decades-long record of acquiring studios for their IP then closing or absorbing them when they no longer fit the portfolio strategy (Westwood, Bullfrog, Origin, Maxis, Pandemic, Visceral, and now BioWare). Fan criticism reacts to that pattern; it does not create it. Supporting individual Respawn titles does not override the parent company’s control over budgets, staffing, and project greenlights.⁠ The BioWare closure and Mass Effect cancellation arrived roughly 78 days after EA’s $55 billion leveraged buyout by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (majority owner), Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. The deal loaded the company with roughly $18–20 billion in debt and ~$1.8 billion in annual interest. Cost-cutting and concentration on higher-margin areas (sports, live-service shooters) follow from that ownership and debt structure, not from fans refusing to buy every EA game. Money spent on successful Respawn games (Jedi series, Apex) still flows to the same parent company that just shuttered another studio. Selective support for titles people enjoy is reasonable; treating public criticism of the publisher’s track record as the primary problem shifts accountability away from the executives and owners who make the final calls. Consumer pressure remains one of the limited levers available against large publishers that repeatedly prioritise short-term financial metrics.