A fan petition asking EA to keep Mass Effect alive has passed 200,000 signatures, just days after the publisher announced it was closing BioWare. VGC reports the milestone, and the #SaveMassEffect petition on Change.org showed 210,934 verified signatures when we checked on 26 October. It was created on 21 October, the day EA announced the closure.
The petition, started by a Change.org user named Joe Smith, wants EA to commit to continued development of the series with proper funding, adequate staffing and enough time. If EA won’t, it asks the publisher to license the Mass Effect property to another studio instead. The text talks about a “decline in dedicated resources and ambiguous development plans” at EA, and it leans on the franchise’s legacy: Commander Shepard, the Normandy crew and a sci-fi universe the petition says has captivated players for years.
The ask lands after a fast-moving week. VGC reports that EA is closing the historic Dragon Age studio and cancelling the next Mass Effect game, which was first announced in 2020 and had been teased for over half a decade with little of substance shown. GamingBible puts the wider cull at 400 staff and notes the closure came two months after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bought EA, a timing it ties to the ownership reshuffle. That context will resonate with readers in the Gulf, though EA’s own letter to staff doesn’t frame it that way.
Fans had reason to feel blindsided. Last year EA downsized BioWare’s development team but said the cuts affected people who had shipped Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and Mass Effect’s director reassured fans that the next game was still in development. In its letter to staff last week, VGC says, EA claimed it will keep investing in sports games, Apex Legends, Battlefield, and action-adventure projects including the next Star Wars Jedi game and Marvel’s Iron Man. Other studios have also taken hits, among them Skate developer Full Circle.
Interest in the lost game is feeding the campaign. A trailer for the cancelled project leaked online, and GamingBible says Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier confirmed it as real. The petition’s momentum also coincides with a smaller consolation for fans: tbreak reported on 24 October that, according to IGN, the Prime Video adaptation is still in development at Amazon MGM Studios with its creatives attached. That series has had its own turbulence, as we covered in our piece on the reported script rewrites. Neither Amazon nor EA has publicly commented on the show.
For now the petition is a public signal rather than a lever. Neither VGC nor the petition page points to any reversal from EA, and the company’s statement says the next Mass Effect project is ending. Whether 200,000-plus signatures change that, or push EA towards the licensing route the petition proposes, is unanswered.
Where can I sign the Save Mass Effect petition?
It’s on Change.org under the title #SaveMassEffect, started by a user named Joe Smith. The page counts verified signatures and was created on 21 October.
Is the Mass Effect TV series affected by BioWare’s closure?
IGN’s sources say the Prime Video series remains in development at Amazon MGM Studios with its creatives still attached. Neither Amazon nor EA has commented publicly, and the show has no release date.
What does the petition want EA to do?
It asks EA to continue Mass Effect with proper funding, staffing and time. Failing that, it asks the publisher to license the IP to another studio.
