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Hold the Line: 200,000 Fans Signed to Save Mass Effect. Here’s the Mission Briefing

By: Author Fenix Bazaar Staff

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Mass Effect Legendary Edition key art

Commander Shepard has been called back to duty, and this time the Normandy is a Change.org petition. In about five days, the #SaveMassEffect campaign has passed 200,000 signatures after EA announced last week that it was closing BioWare and cancelling the next Mass Effect game.

The briefing: what happened

EA announced the closure as part of a wider restructuring that reportedly affects around 400 employees, including about 50 at BioWare, according to Niche Gamer. EA said it would concentrate its investment on fewer large-scale action-adventure projects, while continuing work on Marvel’s Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game. BioWare first announced the next Mass Effect in 2020, as PlayStation Universe notes, and had shared few details since.

The petition by the numbers

  • Who started it: a fan called Joe Smith, on Change.org
  • 23 October: 50,000 signatures
  • 24 October: 100,000 signatures
  • 26 October: more than 200,000, around 212,000 by Niche Gamer’s count

The ask is simple. The petition wants EA to commit proper funding and staff to keep Mass Effect in development, or to license the series to another studio that wants to carry it forward.

Squad report: who’s backing it

Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer, who voice Commander Shepard, have both backed the fan effort. Hale floated the idea of fans, investors and a developer working together to bring the series back, while Meer urged people to sign and hold the line. Niche Gamer is clear that neither comment amounts to a funded project or an agreement with EA.

Odds check: three ways this could go

  • EA changes its mind. There’s no sign of it so far, and a petition has no binding effect on the company. KitGuru’s view is that EA has historically preferred to hold on to its IP, and with cost-cutting the goal, a sudden funding boost looks unlikely.
  • The licence route. This is what the petition itself proposes. It would need EA to agree to hand the series to another studio, which hasn’t been signalled either.
  • Mass Effect lives on elsewhere. Amazon MGM’s planned Mass Effect series is still on the cards, according to PlayStation Universe, so the universe isn’t going dark entirely.

Our take

A petition can’t rewrite a restructuring plan. But 200,000 signatures in five days is an unmistakable signal that the audience for this series is still large, and that makes a dormant franchise harder to ignore. Whether EA listens is another question. We’ll update this story if it responds.

Sources