Sunday, October 25th 2026
Nearly 180,000 Fans Sign #SaveMassEffect Petition Following BioWare Shutdown
A fan petition asking EA to keep Mass Effect alive has picked up close to 180,000 signatures in just a few days. The #SaveMassEffect petition went up on Change.org on October 21, the same day EA shut down BioWare and ended early development on the next Mass Effect game. It asks EA to commit to continued development of the series with proper funding, staffing and time, or, if that's off the table, to license the Mass Effect IP to another studio that wants to carry it forward. The count is still climbing, and EA hasn't responded so far.
The petition grew out of a rough week for BioWare fans. EA is cutting around 400 jobs, roughly 50 of them tied to the canceled game, which a leaked trailer showed was going to be called Mass Effect: Universe. A content creator who says he saw the project during development has also shared what he claims are details about its story and setting. The licensing ask isn't entirely far-fetched, either. Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has pointed out that EA owns all of BioWare's IPs, and that with nobody left working on them, EA might sell them off, or just bury them in the vault.
Of course, a petition carries no real weight with EA's new owners, a PIF-led investor group that took the company private in a $55 billion deal. Darrah describes EA as being in cost-control mode right now, since the deal reportedly left the company with around $20 billion in debt. A revival seems unlikely anytime soon, though close to 180,000 signatures does show there's still a sizable audience waiting for the next Mass Effect.
Sources:
Change.org, via TweakTown
The petition grew out of a rough week for BioWare fans. EA is cutting around 400 jobs, roughly 50 of them tied to the canceled game, which a leaked trailer showed was going to be called Mass Effect: Universe. A content creator who says he saw the project during development has also shared what he claims are details about its story and setting. The licensing ask isn't entirely far-fetched, either. Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has pointed out that EA owns all of BioWare's IPs, and that with nobody left working on them, EA might sell them off, or just bury them in the vault.
24 Comments on Nearly 180,000 Fans Sign #SaveMassEffect Petition Following BioWare Shutdown
Ironically, people want more Mass Effect, but Mass Effect itself was originally a Star Wars game. Instead of making more of the established IP, how about a new group with a vision make something NEW, like they did with Mass Effect? Something interesting with its own story and characters and universe, instead of being tied down to a franchise that has already peaked and hasnt had a good entry in going on 15 years now.
Let us not forget, his baby before and after his hiatus was ANTHEM. He has accomplished nothing else of note since. He accomplished nothing as creative director of microsoft studios. He accomplished nothing as president of Humanoid Origin either. The whole "X was in charge" schtick has long run its course, nobody thinks that a president or manager has anything to do with why games were good these days, FAR too many of these managers turn out to be worthless failures.
His greatest "accomplishment" was normalizing "BiOwArE mAgIc" during his tenure, which is code for endless, soul crushing crunch driven by hideous mismanagement and lack of vision resulting in constant heavy handed changes and demands throughout development.
Drew Karpyshyn, the senior writer for KOTOR and ME1 and co writer for 2, had far more to do with the game succeeding. We will see if his work continues to hold up in Exodus next year.
In fact that really was the start of many previously console only studios coming to PC.
the kicker is, if they would have released it, and it was terrible going by Bioware's track record, those same fans would be up in arms over releasing a crappy Mass Effect game
On the other hand, I don't know what a petition does in this instance, even if it's successful. The IP is in EA's hands who don't intend to do anything with it. Their only studio that could just got dissolved. Even if EA decides to sell the IP, ex-Bioware devs won't just magically have millions of USD to buy it.
Forget about Mass Effect, try new games, some are even inspired by it, like EXODUS, made by ex BioWare devs, including a lead writer of Mass Effect.
Fromsoft was also a small, independent, studio back in 2012. The same strategy would not work on current Fromsoft. And it wont work on EA either.Even devs dont matter. What matters is the synergy between IP, dev, studio, and culture.
Many talented devs worked on games like Mindseye, Highguard, and Concord.
The Mass Effect Trilogy is a complete package. Andromeda was a weird little low stakes side adventure. Put this old dog to rest, let the fandom write their fan fics and mod alternate games in the universe to their heart's content.
"It's better to burn out than to fade away" - Kurt Cobain.
"It's better to burn out than to fade away" - Genghis Khan
Quoting Cobain's restatement of the original quote is especially apropos given the "death" of Bioware after fading away, rather than going out at the top of their game like Kurt did.
" @lexluthermiester is totally being pedantic right now" - God
-Don't trust every quote on the internet! - Sun Tzu