Mass Effect fans are calling for a boycott of all EA products and services to protest the company’s shutdown of BioWare and the cancellation of the next Mass Effect game.
It’s a difficult time for Mass Effect fans. On October 21, EA announced plans to shut down BioWare, a 30-year-old studio that spearheaded RPGs in the West with titles like Dragon Age, Jade Empire, Baldur’s Gate and of course Mass Effect.
Players have been eagerly awaiting news of the next game in BioWare’s beloved sci-fi franchise – but EA shut that down too, revealing in a statement that the project has been officially canceled.
Over the next two days, fans of BioWare and the Mass Effect series rallied to call for action, begging EA to at least sell BioWare’s intellectual property to other studios rather than let them languish. In fact, tensions have become so tense that gamers are now calling for an outright boycott of EA’s products and services until something is done.
On Reddit, several threads bring together Mass Effect fans under the hashtag #savemasseffect, urging players to take action and make their voices heard.
“WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING! Guys, we need to start something here and shout loud enough that this game can be saved. Either EA makes it or sells it. We need to do it now before the noise about this game dies down and it becomes another canceled series, never to come back,” said one Reddit author. wrote. “I suggest we start a movement and send a message to EA asking for some sort of outcome to get this game over. THIS GAME OVER.”
“Mass Effect is one of the best RPGs around,” another fan wrote in a post titled “Boycott EA!” “…Unless they sell Mass Effect to another studio or bring it back. I will never buy another EA product. They are already not one of my favorite studios. No more Respawn Entertainment, DICE, Motive Studios, Criterion Games, Maxis, Full Circle, Cliffhanger Games or any other EA Sports.
“I hope I’m not alone in this. We need to stand up and make our voices heard. I’ve posted everything I can. We can’t let Mass Effect die so easily. Private investors need to realize how much EA screwed up.”
These boycott calls coincide with a fan-started petition urging EA to sell the IPs to other developers or hand development of Mass Effect 5 to another studio. As of this writing, this petition has garnered over 76,500 signatures and has a growing number of fans and industry friends.
Mass Effect 5 – which was to be called Mass Effect Universe – appears to have already reached a good milestone in its development cycle, judging by a full trailer that leaked online yesterday. This trailer rubbed even more salt in the wound for gamers, many of whom thought this game would be everything fans asked for and more.
Industry veterans and even voice actors from the Mass Effect games are speaking out in hopes of getting this game on the shelves one way or another. But according to industry analysts and former BioWare bosses, EA is unlikely to listen to fans’ demands.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience in the gaming and entertainment industry, she has a strong background in the fighting game community, influencer news and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
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