Kanadisk politiker ønsker hjelp fra myndighetene for å redde BioWare fra EA

As we recall, this week saw an event that has become one of the biggest stories in the gaming industry all year—namely, Electronic Arts’ announcement of its decision to shut down BioWare, the studio behind game series such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age. This has caused quite a stir among fans, and many are calling on other companies to acquire the studio and thus lend a helping hand.

Apart from constant reports from players on this issue, they have also garnered support from Canadian government officials, specifically from Avi Lewis, the leader of the New Democratic Party, who wrote about it on his Bluesky page. Furthermore, he suggests BioWare employees buy out the company from Electronic Arts with the support of the federal government; as you can check out more details below:

Canadian politicians call to save BioWare after closure by Electronic Arts.

• Avi Lewis, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, publicly condemned the closure, criticizing private equity for stripping businesses for short-term profit.
• Lewis advocated for federal support to allow BioWare's developers to purchase and run the studio independently.
• His stance aligns with his broader political platform against international buyouts, prompting followers to joke about nationalizing the game developer.
• Demonstrating his familiarity with the studio's legacy, Lewis shared online that his personal favorite is Mass Effect 1 on the PS3.

“This is private equity, this is what it does. Buy up businesses, run them into the ground, and rip them apart for short-term profit.

The developers at BioWare know how to run the studio. They know how to make the games we all love. They should be given the first opportunity—and the federal support—to buy it and run it themselves. And if we want to avoid the Mass Effect effect in Canada, we should be keeping private equity out, not welcoming it in.” — Avi Lewis

It will be interesting to see if this idea goes beyond a social media post. For their part, fans believe the rights to Mass Effect—arguably BioWare’s flagship franchise—should be acquired by CD Projekt RED or Xbox; however, as insider Tom Henderson noted, this deal could certainly be financially unprofitable for Microsoft, since a potential new installment in the franchise would require enormous resources, and it’s not certain that it would generate the same amount (or more) in profits.

Speaking of Mass Effect, we know BioWare was working on a fifth installment, the development of which, of course, was canceled due to the studio’s closure. Over the past couple of days, quite a few details about the project have surfaced, including a concept involving the creation of alternate timelines and a focus on huge opportunities for players. Fans were even more disappointed Mass Effect: Universe (as the game was supposed to be called) had been canceled. Some even started a petition asking to save the franchise —it has already gathered nearly 200,000 signatures.