EA is moving ahead with plans to close down BioWare and cancel the next Mass Effect game. A number of leaks immediately followed the announcement, giving us all a solid idea of where the series was heading next. As it turns out, those leaks have helped stir up fan pushback, with a petition to save BioWare garnering over 200K signatures over the past week.
The online petition calls on EA to “take decisive action by committing to the continued development of Mass Effect”. It also states that “proper funding” and “adequate staffing” would be required. The issue is, well, EA was likely well aware of those costs in producing the new game, and it was likely those very same costs that led to the studio being shut down.
EA was acquired by a private equity consortium earlier this year and immediately afterwards, EA announced plans to save around $700M through cost-cutting measures. Shutting down BioWare and cancelling the new Mass Effect game was likely the biggest move they could make to achieve that cost-cutting goal.
While EA does make a ton of money through its sports franchises and other multiplayer titles, the recent acquisition was a ‘leveraged’ buyout, saddling EA with billions in debt, which now needs to be paid off. The real solution here would be selling the studio and the IP, but that isn’t exactly an avenue that EA has chosen to pursue in the past. For instance, EA still owns IP like Dungeon Keeper and Command & Conquer, despite having no plans to produce new titles in those franchises.
KitGuru Says: As much as I would love for this petition to make a difference, EA has historically preferred to sit on IP rather than sell them off, and right now, they need to cut costs to start paying off debt, making it highly unlikely that they’ll suddenly change course and give BioWare a massive funding boost to get the next Mass Effect game made. A little bit of public pressure never hurts from a fan perspective, I just wouldn’t get my hopes up for it panning out.
