Although still green to say that Mass effect fans are going through a tough time, it’s hard to imagine a few weeks worse. Earlier this month, EA announced the closure of BioWare, effectively extinguishing any hopes of a new entry with it. Its most avid players were furious, to say the least, when a Reddit user came across incidents of vandalism in one of the publisher’s offices.
“I came across the EA offices in Madrid as I was leaving a movie theater,” Reddit user Ok_Link9625 posted, “saw this on the floor of the entrance and on the wall in front of the offices.”
Scrawled in spray paint outside the front door of the Madrid office and along one wall is “SAVE MASS EFFECT.” It’s an escalation of efforts to save the beloved series from an unceremonious end. A few days earlier, a number of fans banded together to buy a 15-second commercial in Times Square. Added to this is a petition on the change demanding that EA continue to develop games in the series, with or without the participation of BioWare. As of this writing, the petition has garnered more than a quarter of a million signatures. The Spanish office itself works largely on various EA Sports titles.
Fans are ultimately torn between these escalating tactics, whether it’s a “bad look” for the community or simply a wasted effort. While righteous indignation is understandable, any of this is unlikely to turn the company’s fortunes around. Amid their controversial acquisition from a coalition of Saudi and Jared Kushner-affiliated companies, Jason Schreier’s sources told him that EA had decided to abandon Mass effect in favor of security Star Wars links, such as Battlefront 3. EA in general is not known for taking care of its legacy franchises or studios, with BioWare in particular being at the center of many labor disputes.
Even if these campaigns caught the attention of an executive, it wouldn’t change the fact that EA shut down the studio responsible for the series. The main damage has been done. Avi Lewis, the recently elected leader of Canada’s federal New Democratic Party, said a tougher policy should be implemented to prevent private equity from destroying Canadian studios, going so far as to say that BioWare staff should receive federal funding to rebuild the studio for themselves.
Gn tech
