Mass Effect deserves way better than being unceremoniously chewed up and spit out in EA’s latest re-shuffling

Image via BioWareJust like that, one of gaming's previously most respected and beloved developers in BioWare is gone.

The studio that brought us Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and more has been shuttered by EA with a quietly-released mid-day announcement ahead of the upcoming N7 Day in a few weeks where news on the Mass Effect sequel was expected. It's a very sad day for the studio, those who are now without a job, and fans of multiple franchises and games.

I'm tremendously sad for those who've been let go today, as always. But with all due respect to Dragon Age et al, I'm especially mourning my favorite space-faring sci-fi franchise; both what it was, and what it could've been.

Amid the studio's closure, EA revealed that the next Mass Effect game, announced in 2020 and presumably slow-going development-wise at BioWare, has also been canceled. We may never know what was to come of it, but the teases had me excited and hopeful. Liara T'Soni was back, and that was enough to trigger excitement and nostalgia. But alas, it's over. That's it. No more.

EA owns the Mass Effect IP after acquiring BioWare way back in 2007, which also was the beginning of the end in the eyes of many. That end was expedited by the company's $55 billion acquisition this year by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Donald Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners. Once this deal was closed, everybody knew substantial changes were coming, and BioWare ended up first on the chopping block as part of around 400 layoffs, according to Bloomberg.

But leaving Mass Effect behind entirely would be a massive mistake. For my money, it's one of the best sci-fi universes ever made, rich in lore and even more so in potential. I've loved it from the moments I first played the original game on Xbox 360, survived the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, read through all of Drew Karpyshyn's books, enjoyed all of the comics, closed things out and saved Earth in Mass Effect 3, and even had fun with Mass Effect: Andromeda. Yes, I enjoyed Andromeda, and I was hoping to learn more about the Quarian Ark that went missing in its canceled DLC.

There is so much potential for more stories in that universe, and EA at least agrees as much in some ways, as it began working on a Mass Effect TV series at Amazon's Prime Video. Prequels, sequels, spin-offs. The strength of the series was in its cast, its characters and their interactions, the worldbuilding of its politics involving multiple alien races all trying to co-exist, and the stories told within the mainline games and its overarching plots elsewhere.

I can't help but feel like there may have been ways to properly use the IP that could've made money for EA, since that's all that really matters (EA CEO Andrew Wilson made $38 million this year and $30 million in 2025, by the way).

I spent countless hours in ME3's co-op multiplayer. They could've tried going free-to-play with a shooter, or MMO, or ARPG, they could've made strategy games, or licensed out the IP to other studios to give it a fresh look with a traditional RPG style that you'd expect. They still could. I hope they do, or better yet, I hope EA sells off the IP to a publisher that will give a shit enough to let a good game be made rather than letting it die. I think the fans would follow.

The writing's been on the wall for a long while at BioWare, unfortunately, and it's felt like this day would come for a long time. It's easy to blame EA for everything, but the studio had also become a shell of what it once was, after years of talent leaving in exodus for one reason or another. It had only released three games (plus the Mass Effect Legendary Edition remasters) in the past decade plus, and none of them performed or reviewed particularly well.

Starting with Andromeda in 2017, the studio's been on a downturn. I still think that game was nowhere near as bad as some made it out to be, but also not what players had come to expect from the franchise. Then Anthem happened. Yeah, it's been bad. That game had a great basis, but forced attempts at making it a live-service game failed miserably (among other issues), leaving it to be remembered as an all-time flop.

After the Legendary Edition in 2021, BioWare's next release was Dragon Age: The Veilguard in 2024, which had mixed reviews from critics but did not land well with many fans, and didn't sell anywhere near what EA was expecting (shocker, I know). So while today's news is not a surprise, it's still a massive disappointment. Especially when it comes to my Mass Effect.

I'm sure we may learn more about what happened with Mass Effect and BioWare in the future, but it's apparent that the studio and its leadership mishandled the games, EA totally botched the franchise's potential, and now those of us looking forward to more stories in that universe are left wondering what would have happened.

I'm sad today, but also angry, disappointed, and unsurprised. I wish BioWare ever even got the chance to really show us what it was working on. For now, it all just feels like a great loss for the industry, and gamers especially. And not to be too dramatic, but this song is all I hear in my head as I think about the franchise we may never see or hear from again:

"Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer." – Javik, Mass Effect 3

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