Featured Image Credit: EA
Topics: Mass Effect, Bioware, EA
Mass Effect fans aren’t feeling too optimistic about the series’ future at the moment, following the recent news of Electronic Arts' private buyout.
In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the past week, you might have missed the news that Electronic Arts, the publisher that owns BioWare, was purchased for roughly 55 billion dollars.
So, BioWare’s owner has a new owner– but why exactly is that a bad thing where Mass Effect 5 is concerned?
It has a little something to do with EA's new owners, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners, the latter of which was founded by Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. I’m sure if you recognise any of those names, you’re starting to connect some dots here.
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As detailed in an article by Insider Gaming's Mike Straw, staff at BioWare haven't reacted particularly well to the news. Part of EA’s buyout included somewhere around 20 billion dollars of accrued debt, which the new owners are going to be keen to pay off ASAP.
This will probably result in two very likely outcomes. Firstly, the new owners may want to cut costs, which could include staff downsizing. BioWare would probably be one of the first devs on the chopping block.
Secondly, it may involve cancelling projects. If the new owners don’t see Mass Effect 5 as a profitable venture, they’ll either cancel it outright and eat the development costs they’ve accrued or they’ll force it out the door as quickly as possible.
There is, however, a third alternative that’s upsetting members of the r/masseffect community.
It is, quite literally, illegal to be gay in Saudi Arabia. Likewise, the Trump administration's track record on LGBTQ+ rights is pretty dire, to say the least.
BioWare has always been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ representation in their games, especially where Mass Effect and Dragon Age are concerned. As a result, many fans believe that EA’s new owners may force the developer to censor or otherwise completely remove any planned or already developed content of this nature from Mass Effect 5.
“Hmmm.... what are the odds the Saudis will allow a game where a woman makes decisions and can be a lesbian?? I'm gonna say 0% lmao. Oh well, we will always have the trilogy I guess”, commented user Collin_of_Rivia.
“This is pretty much the end for the Mass Effect IP. Its either gonna get cancelled or massively restricted by Saudi government and the US far-right movement”, replied user Inevitable_Sector778.
“Only remaining hope is that they find a buyer for Bioware.”
“I hope Bioware gets sold because there’s no way I will be buying the next Mass Effect or any EA game under this regime”, commented user HarbyFullyLoaded_12.
I think this is a pretty fair concern. Affinity Partners and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund teaming up is like the equivalent of a Voltron piloted exclusively by far-right extremists.
I don’t see how this won’t affect the release of Mass Effect 5 in some way, whether that be through censorship or redundancies at BioWare.
Either way, I won’t be purchasing the game myself. I’d rather set £70 on fire than use it to line Jared Kushner’s pockets.