BioWare To Close and Next Mass Effect Cancelled General Gaming

[David76]

In some absolutely shock news today, EA has announced that BioWare is being shut down and the next Mass Effect game will not go ahead.

The company said the decision comes as part of mass layoffs affecting 400 staff across Electronic Arts, around 3% of its total workforce. About 50 of those roles were at BioWare.

EA said it had made the decision not to move forward with early development on Mass Effect, and that this means it is closing the studio and its Edmonton workspace.

BioWare had spent years teasing the setting and story of the next Mass Effect, with the game previously confirmed to be set hundreds of years after Mass Effect 3 and to return the series to the Milky Way after the Reapers were defeated. Fans will now not find out what happens next.

The move follows a difficult period for BioWare, after Anthem underperformed and Dragon Age: The Veilguard also failed to meet expectations. Mass Effect Andromeda was also widely seen as a disappointment, although the more recent Legendary Edition remaster was better received.

It is unclear what the decision means for Amazon's live-action Mass Effect series, which was also due to be set after Mass Effect 3 and tell a new story. Earlier this year, co-showrunner Daniel Casey rejected a report claiming the adaptation had been rewritten to be "more appealing to non-gamers."

EA said it will continue to focus on sports games, Respawn's Apex Legends, action-adventure titles including Star Wars: Jedi 3 and Marvel's Iron Man, and Battlefield. Bloomberg said Respawn and DICE are likely working on Star Wars: Battlefront 3.

The cuts come a few months after EA went private in a $55 billion leveraged buyout backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the US private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners.

In a memo to staff, Cam Weber, president and chief studios officer, and David Tinson, president and COO, said EA was "the number one publisher in Western HD gaming" but that "our industry is changing quickly". They said players have more choices than ever and that competition is intensifying.

They added that EA was concentrating its teams, technology and investment behind three priorities: "Deepen Our Core", "Expand Our Reach" and "Transform Our Business".

Spoiler: Here is a look at the statement in full

EA said it will continue to invest in Apex Legends, with new gameplay modes and other experiences planned to expand the universe. It also said future Battlefield games are on the way, and that Marvel's Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game remain in development.

The company also said two new sports projects are due to be revealed in the next few months: "Project Gridiron", described as a brand-new, social-first open-world experience for its American football team, and a return of Fight Night in pre-production.

For The Sims, EA said Project Evergreen will continue while Project Lotus is paused. It also said Skate had brought in many players and that changes were being made to create a more focused, smaller team.

Mike Gamble, executive producer of Mass Effect at BioWare, said in a social media post that fans' support had meant everything to him over the past 17 years at BioWare.

 

[Gemma]

Sad news. Though in all honesty the BioWare of recent years has pretty much been an entirely different outfit, all the original talent have since long gone.

Shame that EA hold the Mass Effect and KOTOR IPs (though perhaps Disney could wrestle the latter off them), would have loved Larian or CDProjekt Red to take a crack at those franchises.

 

[Welshy]

Incredibly sad, but they've been a shell of their former selves. In the last decade they've released - a pretty crap Mass Effect spinoff, a failed online live service game, and a medicore Dragon Age game. I think the last game that truly captured the BioWare magic was Mass Effect 3 - and even that had its controversies.

In truth, the company was due to die a slow death the moment EA acquired them - they join a list of other revered studios like BullFrog, Maxis, Westwood, Pandemic etc. These big gaming corps and triple AAA studios are going to be forced to churn out the usual slop sequels - EA FC, Battlefield, COD etc just to guarantee 'stakeholder value', and unfortunately BioWare were always going to be considered surplus.

Gaming is a bit of a mess right now, all the gems seem to come from Indie studios.

 

[David76]

A trailer said to have been intended for internal use only has reportedly surfaced a day after BioWare was shut down and development on its next Mass Effect game was cancelled.

The footage was first shared in a Reddit post by a user who provided little evidence of its authenticity, but IGN has since reportedly verified that it is genuine.



The trailer opens with a message saying: "The following is in-engine footage from our small team. It uses our pre-production assets."

It then shows a former sci-fi military man explaining why he left war behind for what appears to be an interplanetary life with a James Bond-style feel. Although the trailer is pre-rendered, it includes a rough sense of gameplay, with gun combat alongside telekinetic abilities.

At the end, the name Mass Effect Universe appears. It is not clear whether that was a working title or the name that would have been used publicly.

One of the most notable moments in the trailer is the appearance of an older Liara T'Soni, who helps the protagonist in a bar fight. That has raised questions about when the game would have been set.

 

[Tom]

I'm not saying this doesn't suck, but the Bioware we loved was gone a long time ago. I think the last BioWare game I played was Mass Effect 3.

 

[Abomb]

If that was the new Mass Effect game, it looked decent.

The games industry is a mess right now.

 

[Gemma]

Jennifer Hale has spoken out after a leaked trailer for the next Mass Effect game appeared online, saying she is "holding hope for magic to happen".

Hale, who is best known for voicing the female version of Commander Shepard in the first three Mass Effect games, responded to a re-upload of the trailer on X/Twitter. She wrote: "It's extraordinary. I'm holding hope for magic to happen. This community and you incredible devs deserve that and more."

Two days earlier, Hale appeared on Instagram with fellow Commander Shepard voice actor Mark Meer, who voices the male version of the character, to address fans after EA's decision to close BioWare and cancel the next Mass Effect game, reportedly titled Mass Effect Universe.

"I feel weirdly hopeful, and I can't explain why," Hale said. "...I feel for the [BioWare] employees who are suddenly unemployed. That is the number one thing on my mind. Those beautiful team members who are looking for a new home."

Meer said: "It is very sad news. It is a massive loss for Edmonton, for Canada, and for the video game industry in general. It's very unfortunate to see. And of course, I feel very bad for all of the fans."

Hale added that she hoped the intellectual properties could be released into the market and taken up by someone else. "I'm hopeful that maybe there might be some crazy thing where they decide that to increase their profit margins — which is often their priority — they will release these IPs into the market to sell them, and use that to do what they do, which is increase their profit margins. But maybe someone could grab hold of these IPs and do something with them," she said.

Fans have also called on EA to sell BioWare's intellectual properties, while Canadian politician Avi Lewis has publicly criticised the company online. However, industry analysts have said the properties may not fit EA's current strategy and could be too expensive for other studios to acquire.

 

[David76]

A petition calling on EA to protect the future of Mass Effect has passed 187,000 signatures.

The Change.org campaign, credited to Joe Smith, does not ask EA to reverse its decision on BioWare. Instead, it calls for "decisive action by committing to the continued development of Mass Effect".

"This commitment requires proper funding, adequate staffing, and time allocation to maintain and advance the high standards the franchise is known for," the petition says. "Alternatively, EA could consider licensing the Mass Effect intellectual property (IP) to another studio that shares the passion and vision to keep it alive and allow it to flourish anew."

It adds: "Fans around the globe have invested thousands of hours exploring the galaxy, forming deep connections with its multifaceted characters and compelling storylines. It is a franchise that has transcended the typical gamer experience, creating a community that advocates for choice, individuality, and shared adventure. The potential cessation of new developments in this universe is a devastating prospect not only for fans but for the diversity of narrative-driven games as a whole."

The campaign comes after BioWare announced job cuts, following Saudi Arabia's $55bn leveraged buyout of the company. The cuts drew widespread condemnation and messages of sympathy from across the industry.

EA's job cuts also affected developers at Respawn, Maxis, Full Circle, EA Motive and other EA-owned studios.

Separately, a content creator claiming to have served on a BioWare community council has shared alleged details about the cancelled next Mass Effect game, titled Mass Effect Universe. In a lengthy Twitter/X post, the YouTuber said he had access through his role on the "Mass Effect Council", had seen what BioWare was developing and had provided feedback during development.

BioWare later confirmed an internal trailer for Mass Effect Universe was real after the company's closure and the game's cancellation.

 

[David76]

Fans backing the Save Mass Effect campaign have put up a billboard in Times Square and say more advertising efforts are planned for later in the year.

The community-organised push follows last week's decision by publisher EA to shut down BioWare and cancel the next Mass Effect game. Since then, supporters have been urging Electronic Arts to reverse course and allow the series to continue in some form.

The We Are Mass Effect group and content creator Kala Elizabeth have arranged the Times Square billboard, which directs people towards the growing #SaveMassEffect campaign. The advert features the words "Kellah Si'yah", a reference to the in-game ship that ferried different races to settle the Andromeda system.

 https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2114730231214883014

Mer Mora, one of the group's organisers, said several more initiatives are in development. These include an advertising truck near EA's headquarters in Redwood City and in Edmonton, a mobile billboard for N7 Day, and another in Los Angeles for The Game Awards.

"All of them will carry a message in support of #SaveMassEffect," Mora said.

The SaveMassEffect petition has now passed 226,000 signatures. It calls on EA to commit to "the continued development of Mass Effect" either by funding a new game in the series or by licensing it to an outside studio.

Mora said the campaigns will be funded by the community itself, with a GoFundMe being prepared after what the group described as an overwhelming response from supporters. Any money raised beyond the target will be donated to the Game Workers' Hardship Fund, which was opened earlier this year by the United Videogame Workers union (UVW-CWA) to support laid-off game developers in Canada and the USA.