Last week, the other shoe dropped for legendary RPG studio BioWare: shortly after EA's acquisition by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and investment firms Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the gaming giant shut down BioWare and canceled Mass Effect 5.
Fans have spent the intervening days combing through the detritus of the next game in the series' leaked remains, and some have even signed a change.org petition to save the series. Right now, that #SaveMassEffect petition has hit over 180,000 verified signatures.
Notably it does not call for EA to walk back its decision to shut down BioWare. Instead, it's about keeping the Mass Effect series going: "We are urgently petitioning EA to take decisive action by committing to the continued development of Mass Effect," Joe Smith's plea reads. "Alternatively, EA could consider licensing the Mass Effect intellectual property to another studio that shares the passion and vision to keep it alive and allow it to flourish anew."
Of course, EA is not beholden to the demands of a digital petition—the chances that this will inspire a revolution of the heart throughout the industry's C-suites are not high. One could argue that, if the publisher held the legacy of Mass Effect or, indeed, the computer RPG itself as a priority, it would not have shut down BioWare in the first place. But this petition has proven a lightning rod of enthusiasm for fans of the series, who are sharing their memories of the games along with their signatures.
"You’re gonna have to pry Garrus from my cold dead hands," wrote Savannah. Another from Joe reads, "My wife and I absolutely love the Mass Effect series. We’ve had so many good times together sharing Commander Shepard's story over the years. It really devastated both of us when we heard that BioWare is done and, in turn, Mass Effect 5 wasn’t going to happen." Austin wrote: "The trilogy and even silly Andromeda has made a permanent impact on my life. I’ve been playing for 13 years."
While it's hard to imagine EA doing a 180 on this, it's also hard to imagine Mass Effect staying down for good (even if that might be where we're headed). Maybe Canada's New Democratic Party leader Avi Lewis has the right idea, and BioWare should be publicly funded for the collective good. Either way, the immediate, broader future for games made under the EA banner looks a mite grim.