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EA's closure of BioWare has sent shockwaves of grief throughout the gaming industry as we mourn the loss of yet another iconic development studio.
Best known for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, BioWare has been developing some of the best titles for over thirty years. That was until its doors shuttered for good on October 21st as part of EA's recent restructuring efforts.
A statement from BioWare revealed the team was working on the next Mass Effect project up until its closure. Following this, a 'Mass Effect Universe' trailer appeared online and was confirmed by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier as a real trailer of the now cancelled Mass Effect game.
In light of this news, lots of X/Twitter users have shared their support for the legendary sci-fi IP, and have even started to suggest that Xbox should reach out to EA and acquire (or fund) the next Mass Effect game.
As much as we'd love to see Mass Effect return, the idea that Xbox could just 'buy' the IP doesn't sound as straight forward as chucking some money at EA and calling it a day.
For starters, calls for companies to save Mass Effect doesn't paint Xbox as the sole saviour. Other companies such as CD Projekt Red have been thrown around too. But when all is said and done, all of BioWare's IP go back to EA and it's up to them what they do with them.
Former BioWare exec Mark Darrah weighed in on the Mass Effect conversation in a YouTube video, where he states that, since the studio is no more and nobody is working on the IP at this point, EA might be "more likely to sell off those IPs".
“EA owns all the IPs. They own Dragon Age, they own Mass Effect, they own Jade Empire. That doesn’t change the situation, really, at all."
Darrah goes on to suggest that EA seems "to be in cost control mode" and that "they might start into a revenue-generation mode where selling IPs might be more desirable".
Ultimately, the ball is in EA's court when it comes to whether Mass Effect lives or dies alongside BioWare. As huge fans of the franchise ourselves, we'd love to see Xbox enter into the conversation, and hopefully this isn't the last we see of Mass Effect.