Former BioWare designer John Wensky stated that EA's acquisition of BioWare was not the starting point of the studio's decline, but rather helped it resolve an impending bankruptcy crisis. He attributed the financial pressure at the time primarily to Dragon Age: Origins, which had a development cycle exceeding seven years.
Wensky worked at BioWare for 16 years, participating in 10 projects ranging from Baldur's Gate to Mass Effect 3. According to his recollection, without the intervention of a major publisher, BioWare might have gone bankrupt in the mid-2000s.
During the development of Dragon Age: Origins, a team of approximately 450 people continuously incurred salary and operational costs, yet the studio had no corresponding revenue from new releases for a long period. Wensky believes that if all cumulative costs over the project's more than seven-year development cycle were included, the game would not have recouped its full investment had BioWare remained independent.
Co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were striving to keep the company afloat at the time and did not allow ordinary developers direct access to the financial difficulties. Consequently, team members were unaware of the severity of the funding shortage.
BioWare subsequently joined VG Holding. This company was promoted by executive John Riccitiello, with investment from musician Bono. After Riccitiello became CEO of EA, BioWare came under EA's umbrella; at the time of the transaction, Dragon Age: Origins had already been in development for about five years.
Wensky stated that EA assumed and wrote off the studio's debt accumulated over the previous five years. As a result, when calculating the book performance of Dragon Age: Origins, only the expenses from the final two years before its 2009 release were included, ultimately showing a profit.