Five days ago, a studio that spent three decades building worlds got a closing notice. Today more than 200,000 strangers have put their names on one page asking EA to keep one of those worlds alive. I keep turning that number over, because it’s bigger than I expected and still smaller than the thing it’s up against.

Here’s the short version. On Oct. 21, EA announced it was closing BioWare and ending early development on the next Mass Effect. The same day, a fan named Joe Smith started a petition on Change.org. By early Monday, Oct. 26, it had passed 200,000 verified signatures, and the Commander Shepard voice actors Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer had both backed the effort, according to GamesRadar.

I covered the closure itself already, so I won’t retell it. This piece is about the question underneath all the shares and signatures: can a petition actually work? I’d rather not just cheer or shrug, so I’ve built this one as a set of tools. There’s a quick verdict, two past fan campaigns as case files, five “doors” Mass Effect could realistically return through with my own odds on each, and a scorecard for the petition itself.

My quick verdict

Sign it if the series matters to you. It’s free, and it’s a real signal. But I’d call it a strong signal and a weak lever. I don’t think its best shot is getting EA to rebuild BioWare. I think it’s making a license look like the sensible business move.

The Key Points

  • The #SaveMassEffect petition on Change.org, started by Joe Smith on Oct. 21, the day EA announced it was closing BioWare, passed 200,000 verified signatures by early Monday, Oct. 26. It asks EA either to fund continued Mass Effect development or to license the franchise to another studio.
  • As of this writing I could not find any EA statement about what happens to the Mass Effect or Dragon Age brands. EA’s letter ended early development on the next game, and outlets covering the petition report that EA has not responded.
  • My take: this is a strong signal and a weak lever. I think the petition’s realistic target is a license or sale, not a rebuilt BioWare. That’s my opinion, not a report.
Part 01 · The ask

What exactly does the Save Mass Effect petition ask EA to do?

It gives EA two ways forward, and I find that smart. The first is to commit to continued Mass Effect development with what the petition calls “proper funding, adequate staffing, and time allocation.” The second is to license the franchise to another studio that wants to carry it on. GamesRadar points out that the petition doesn’t ask EA to reverse the closure of BioWare itself, which makes the request narrower and more realistic than the headlines suggest.

200,172verified signatures logged by Gaming Route at 02:10 UTC on Oct. 26
5 daysfrom the petition’s start on Oct. 21 to this report
2 asksfund continued development, or license the franchise
0EA statements about the franchise’s future that I could find
  • Oct. 21EA announces BioWare’s closure, and the petition goes up the same day.
  • Sunday evening, Oct. 25Cosmic Book News counts 195,346 verified signatures and close to 5,000 comments.
  • Early Monday, Oct. 26Gaming Route’s tracker logs 200,172 at 02:10 UTC. The count keeps moving, so treat every number here as a snapshot.

The crowd isn’t only signing. Digital Citizen reports that a content creator, Kala Elizabeth, proposed a fundraiser for a billboard near EA’s headquarters, and that Smith reached out to coordinate. Meer asked fans to “hold the line,” according to GamesRadar. That’s a campaign, not just a click.

Part 02 · The owner

Has EA responded, and who owns Mass Effect right now?

Here’s where I want to be careful, because this is where most petition coverage gets loose. I sorted what’s on the record from what’s still silent.

  • Said

    EA’s letter ended early development on the next Mass Effect and announced BioWare’s closure, as we covered when it happened.

  • Reported

    EA kept the Mass Effect and Dragon Age rights when the studio closed, per Cosmic Book News.

  • Silent

    Whether EA will fund, license, sell or shelve the franchise. Outlets covering the petition say EA hasn’t responded, and I found no statement.

  • Silent

    Whether EA has talked to any studio about taking Mass Effect on. I found no reporting that says so.

Ownership matters more than the signature count. EA went private on Aug. 4 in a roughly $55 billion deal led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and our buyout breakdown walks through the roughly $20 billion in debt that came with it. Mark Darrah, who worked at BioWare from 1997 to 2021, has described EA as being in cost-control mode, as reported by TechPowerUp. That doesn’t tell us what EA will do. It tells us what question the petition is really asking: can it make saying yes cheaper than saying nothing?

EA’s letter says the company will discuss its direction at its next Global Town Hall in November, as covered in our earlier story. I’m not treating that as a signal either way. It’s simply the next place EA has said it will talk.

Part 03 · The history

Has a fan campaign ever moved a Mass Effect decision? Two case files

Mass Effect fans have done this before, and so have fans of other beloved games. I picked the two cases I could verify and put them next to today’s.

  • 2012: Retake Mass EffectCase file · small, fast, in-house

    The askFans were unhappy with the ending of Mass Effect 3, which launched on March 6, 2012, and wanted more clarity and closure.

    What the crowd didThe Retake Mass Effect campaign ran a donation drive for the charity Child’s Play and raised about $80,000 from more than 4,000 contributors, per Engadget and other reports.

    What happenedBioWare announced a free Extended Cut on April 5 and released it on June 26, 2012. It added cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes. PC Gamer notes it didn’t change what actually happened in the ending. Child’s Play also closed the drive after confusion over what donors believed they were funding.

    The lessonA studio said yes to something small, fast and inside its own walls.

  • 2015: Shenmue IIICase file · big crowd, creator owns the idea

    The askCreator Yu Suzuki asked fans for $2 million to make a sequel the community had wanted for 14 years.

    What the crowd didThe Kickstarter closed at $6,333,295 from 69,320 backers, the most funded game on the site at that point, per Anime News Network.

    What happenedThe game got made, but Suzuki had said he’d need around $10 million for the open world he wanted, and reports say other backers, including Sony and Shibuya Productions, helped fund it.

    The lessonCrowd money can open a door, but it rarely pays for the whole house, and it worked because the person asking owned the project.

  • 2026: Save Mass EffectCase file · huge, expensive, owned by someone else

    The askFund a new game, or hand the franchise to another studio.

    What the crowd didMore than 200,000 verified signatures in five days, with no money pledged and a billboard fundraiser still at the idea stage.

    What happenedAs of this writing, nothing from the owner.

    The lessonI’ll give you my read below. It isn’t a happy one, but it isn’t a hopeless one either.

My read: both earlier wins asked for something the person in charge could say yes to alone. Extra cutscenes were BioWare’s to give. Shenmue III was Suzuki’s to make. Today’s ask is a whole game, or a handover of someone else’s property, and the decision sits with owners who just chose the opposite. That’s why I think the petition’s power is real but narrow.

Part 04 · The doors

How could Mass Effect actually come back? The five doors and my odds

Instead of asking “will it work,” I’d rather ask which doors exist. These are the five realistic ways I can see the series continuing. The facts in each card come from reporting. The odds are my judgment, shown as pips out of five, and they’re about a new Mass Effect game unless I say otherwise.

  • EA funds a new Mass Effect itself

    Who holds the keyEA, which went private on Aug. 4 in a roughly $55 billion deal led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, as covered in our earlier buyout breakdown.

    What has to happenEA reverses a cancellation it announced five days ago and rebuilds a team it just closed.

    On the recordEA’s letter ends early development on the next game, and Bloomberg reports about 50 BioWare roles were among roughly 400 cuts. Our buyout coverage puts the debt from the deal at around $20 billion.

    My odds (opinion)Very low

  • EA licenses or sells the franchise

    Who holds the keyEA, which kept the Mass Effect and Dragon Age rights when the studio closed.

    What has to happenEA decides that a partner carrying the cost and the risk beats leaving the brand idle, and a studio wants the deal.

    On the recordNo EA statement about licensing or selling that I could find. Mark Darrah, who worked at BioWare from 1997 to 2021, has said he sees a possible path where EA sells dormant IP, as reported by PCMag UK. Some fans have publicly asked other studios, including the makers of Palworld, to step in, per GamesRadar. I found no sign of a response.

    My odds (opinion)Low, but the likeliest path to a new game

  • The Amazon MGM series keeps going

    Who holds the keyAmazon MGM Studios, working with EA.

    What has to happenNothing new. It’s already moving.

    On the recordVariety reported in November 2024 that a Mass Effect series was officially in development at Amazon MGM Studios, and GamesRadar reports it remains in development after the BioWare closure. It is a show, not a game.

    My odds (opinion)Already in development, but not a game

  • A fan-funded revival

    Who holds the keyEA. Crowdfunding can raise money, but as far as I can tell the Mass Effect name and characters can’t be used for a game without EA’s permission.

    What has to happenDoor 2 opens first, and then a studio and investors agree to build on it.

    On the recordGamesRadar reports that Jennifer Hale said she would like to picture a fan Kickstarter, a game studio and a group of investors working together to restore the series. That’s a wish, not a plan, and nothing like it has been announced.

    My odds (opinion)Locked unless Door 2 opens

  • A spiritual successor from former BioWare developers

    Who holds the keyThe developers and an investor. A new game with a new name wouldn’t need EA’s permission.

    What has to happenA team forms, funding arrives and years of work follow, and it can’t use Mass Effect’s name or characters.

    On the recordI found no announcement of anything like this. It would also not be Mass Effect, only something with a similar spirit.

    My odds (opinion)Possible, but years away

The petition can’t open any of these doors. It can only make it a little harder for the people holding the keys to say nothing.

If I had to pick, Door 2 is where the petition’s pressure counts most, because it’s the only path to a new game that doesn’t require EA to spend its own money and also doesn’t require fans to wait for years. TweakTown makes a related point: signatures aren’t dollars, but they do show people who might buy a new game. I’d put it a little more bluntly. A license is the kind of idea a petition can make look safe.

Part 05 · The scorecard

How much power does a petition really have? My scorecard

I graded the petition on five things that decide whether a campaign like this moves anyone. These grades are mine, not data.

  • Size of the crowd

    A

    More than 200,000 verified signatures in five days is a lot, and outlets report nearly 5,000 comments on the page. This is the petition’s strongest card.

  • Clarity of the ask

    A-

    Two specific options, fund it or license it, are easier for a company to answer than a general plea. It also doesn’t demand that BioWare reopen, which makes it more realistic.

  • Who can say yes

    D

    EA’s new owners are carrying about $20 billion of debt from the buyout, per our earlier coverage, and the company just closed the studio. That’s the hardest door.

  • Cost of saying yes

    C

    A new big-budget RPG costs EA a lot, while a license shifts most of the cost to someone else. I can’t put a number on either, so this grade is judgment.

  • Precedent

    C+

    Fans moved BioWare in 2012 on something small and fast, and crowdfunding worked for a creator who owned his game in 2015. Neither is the same as an owner handing a franchise over.

C+ overallA strong signal and a weak lever. Great as proof of demand, not enough alone to change a decision made by new owners with a heavy debt load. That’s my opinion.
Part 06 · What you can do

Should you sign it? A 30-second checklist

  1. Check you’re on the real pageLook for the Save Mass Effect title, the organizer name Joe Smith and a Change.org address. GamesRadar, Cosmic Book News and others have covered this petition.
  2. Remember it’s freeSigning doesn’t cost anything. If a donation prompt shows up, I’d treat it as optional.
  3. Be wary of “buy the IP” fundraisersI found no sign that EA has put Mass Effect up for sale. The 2012 donation drive is a reminder of how easily money can get tangled with what donors think they’re funding.
  4. Say something specificThe page already has thousands of comments. One concrete line about what the series meant to you says more than a bare “please,” and that’s my opinion, not a guarantee anyone reads it.
  5. Think about what you’d really buyDemand that turns into purchases is the kind a publisher understands, so be honest with yourself about whether you’d buy the next one.
Verdict · My take Status: opinion

My verdict on the Save Mass Effect petition

I’m a little more hopeful than the scorecard says I should be, and I want to explain why. Two hundred thousand people didn’t sign because they expect a press release. They signed because something they loved was being closed without a goodbye. That’s the part that doesn’t show up in any grade, and it’s the reason I think this effort deserves respect rather than a shrug.

But I’d be doing you a disservice if I pretended a petition rebuilds a studio. It doesn’t. The closure is real, the owners are the owners, and the path with the best odds in my view is a license, which means the outcome probably depends on a deal nobody outside EA can see yet.

Here’s what would change my mind, in plain terms:

  • Signal 1

    An EA statement that says anything specific about licensing, selling or shelving the franchise.

  • Signal 2

    A named studio confirming it has talked to EA about Mass Effect.

  • Signal 3

    What EA says about its direction at the November Global Town Hall, since that’s the next place it has said it will talk.

Until then, I’d sign if you care, keep your expectations honest and keep the conversation going. A series that built its reputation on choices deserves fans who make theirs with open eyes.