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u/clc1997 Sep 27 '25
A private equity firm buying a company usually is not a good sign for the future of said company. I mean, Bioware's future was already dubious. They will likely bleed the company dry and focus only on the easiest money.
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u/hooahguy Alliance Sep 27 '25
If this goes through, I give them 5 years before it gets sold for parts. Its the private equity way!
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u/ciphoenix Sep 27 '25
Let's hope one of those "parts" is the IP for dragon age and Mass Effect
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u/TheSpiritualAgnostic Sep 27 '25
Unfortunately, just because it could get sold to another company besides EA, that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be better.
People said that about Square Enix selling Tomb Raider, and then the company that bought it did a terrible remaster using AI.
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u/De_Dominator69 Sep 27 '25
Yeah, all depends on who would buy it. But hey, maybe we end up in the good timeline were they get sold to someone like Owlcat or Larian... God I wish.
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u/BobR969 Sep 27 '25
A real-time-with-pause/turn based mass effect. I can't think of a worse direction outside of maybe a mass effect racing game ;). Larian made dragona age though... Chefs kiss.Ā
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u/De_Dominator69 Sep 27 '25
I think it could be great tbh, but we have Owlcat literally working a 3rd Person real-time combat RPG in the form of the Expanse Osiris. If that turns out well then just imagine the possibilities.
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u/Responsible_Towel857 Sep 27 '25
Imagine Rockstar games buying the ME IP or Arcane or...or... Larian?!?!
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u/transmogrify Sep 27 '25
Wish granted: Raid Citadel Legends coming soon to Google Play and Apple Store.
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Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
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u/clc1997 Sep 27 '25
Private Equity Firms borrow the money to buy the company using the company they are buying as the collateral. This saddles the company with the debt and the Private Equity Firm just takes the profits. Acquired company dies, PE firm lives on to murder more companies.
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u/PikaPulpy Sep 27 '25
Bioware's dead, baby. Bioware's dead
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u/GalileoAce Sep 27 '25
It's been dead for a long, right around the time EA told them to make a GAAS
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u/meeps20q0 Sep 27 '25
Usually? When is it a good sign?
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u/TheWarHamster Sep 27 '25
Iāve read of ONE time where private equity actually ended up good for the company and that was the bookstore Barnes and Nobleā¦ thatās actually a really interesting read about the new leadership they installed, what they did to revitalize stores (letting local management have leeway to build to their local markets taste/interests), and their resurgenceā¦
Like you said, almost every other time private equity comes in they gut the company within a short time and it ends badly for everyone except for a few stakeholdersā¦ R.I.P. Toys R Us, Radio Shack, SEARs, and many others!
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u/cpt_goodvibe Sep 27 '25
We will be getting a mass effect mobile game in the future. It's gunna be a joke.
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u/Clear_Win_5845 Sep 27 '25
It's actually the kiss of death. Private equity ruins everything it touches.
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u/BarelyInvested Sep 27 '25
Imagine if Mass Effect had a publisher that actually gave a shit about them
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u/skorpiontamer Sep 27 '25
Imagine if Larian made the next mass effect
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u/BarelyInvested Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
Iād even throw in Projekt Red, considering how much of a 180 Cyberpunks had. EA would never fix a game for their fans or be that dedicated to one
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u/BlitzMalefitz Sep 27 '25
Cyberpunk had good dialogue and story. It was just buggy, which is why I gave it a pass. If the game has a boring story, writing AND buggy, why the hell would I be playing it?
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u/Vigmod Sep 27 '25
One gets ME, the other gets DA.
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u/spicy_nipple_ Sep 27 '25
A CDPR developed Mass Effect and a Larian developed Dragon Age would be the best thing that could ever happen to those franchises and the fanbases.
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u/OutcastSpartan Sep 27 '25
Reverse it, I want to see Larian do Mass Effect, and CDPR do Dragon Age.
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u/JeulMartin Sep 27 '25
Exactly this! I'd love to see both studio step just outside their wheelhouse because I think it would make something super interesting.
Larian tackling the futuristic combat? Their spin on ME with the level of freedom? Awesome.
CDPR stepping just a touch into the turn-based realm, leaning on their already solid combat and world building? Hell yeah.
I think the other way around is the obvious choice, but if we're playing god, we might as well play jazz, too.
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u/TruamaTeam Sep 27 '25
Yes I was going to say this. I love cyberpunk 2077 so much, Iām certain they could make an amazing game where you play as a detective on the Citadel! (Pre-reaper invasion). You could choose to be shady and make deals with criminals for cash or information on more important targets, follow or go against superiorās orders, hundreds of side quests, beautiful map of the citadel showing all its variety and extreme scale.
I would worry that Larian would make DA turn based, but other than that I canāt think of a better studio for the task!
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u/sci_fientist Sep 27 '25
I don't disagree but I really can't decide if I'd rather have a great turn-based DA game or never play another DA game again š
I love the Divinity games and BG3 but oh my god I just want a decent real-time combat party-based RPG with a little bit of flirting and it really feels like Bioware is one of the only studios that does that (we don't talk about Veilguard)
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u/dalcarr Sep 27 '25
Who gets KotOR?
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u/TheGhostBox Sep 27 '25
Also Larian.
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u/SecretOscarOG Sep 27 '25
You get a bioware franchise and YOU get a bioware franchise AND YOU get a bioware franchise
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u/victoro311 Sep 27 '25
I keep saying BG3 is proof of concept that you can make a Dragon Age that goes back to the roots of Origins with a modern game engine and it would be a huge hit assuming itās high quality. Larian would know DA out of the park
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u/gymleader_michael Sep 27 '25
I feel like people are underestimating the gameplay difference of Dragon Age compared to modern Larian games.
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u/MCRN-Gyoza Sep 29 '25
The way people talk about DAO online is just weird.
The game people talk about simply doesn't exist. Both in terms of combat and story/tone, it's all nostalgia.
Don't get me wrong, I really like it, but in terms of gameplay it's a relatively shallow real time with pause game that requires little to no thinking (you can solo the game on Nightmare by right clicking and going AFK), and for Rogue/Warrior there's almost no buildcrafting depth as well.
It really pales in comparison to other CRPGs, even the classics that are older than it (BG1/2, NWN, etc.) and the ones that came after it (Pillars of Eternity, the Pathfinder games).
The story is great, but people also have weird misconceptions about the writing.
They seem to only remember that one scene in the deep roads and say the game is some dark fantasy bastion when the game is very a much a product of its time, filled with corny jokes and Joss Whedon style dialogue (even the main writer admitted Whedon was a big influence), the game has the tone of Firefly for 95% of the game.
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u/Anxious-Chemistry-6 Sep 27 '25
No thank you. Look, I know I'm in the minority, but I really don't like larian games. I don't like the way they tell stories. And I know this is blasphemy, but I don't find their companions interesting. So for a franchise that's all about story and companions, I would not be thrilled if larian took over. Again, I know this is practically blasphemy.
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u/lordmiklite Sep 27 '25
I like BG3, but I agree. I think BG3 is by a mile the best game Larian ever made (I am a heretical DOS2 hater, though for whatever reason I have better memories of DOS1, maybe just because of when it came out) and even then I have found myself somewhat disillusioned with it after playing multiple times and replaying the ME trilogy in parallel. I don't think they are a substitute for old BioWare at all.
The biggest thing for me is that when you look at it BG3 isn't really about anything. They were so focused on making the narrative accommodate gameplay freedom that, at the end of the day, there are no real themes and no interesting dilemmas because the game works so hard to justify anything you choose to do. It also leads to characters that are flimsier in my opinion than peak BioWare's because, especially past Act I, they also are mostly designed to bend around whatever you do in ways that make them seem like they don't have a coherent identity.
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u/himanashi Sep 27 '25
I'm with you. Larian made the first rpg I ever played (DOS1) and I like them a lot. That said, I don't find their companions all that interesting, but more than that, their player characters are severely underwritten. Larian would never have given us Shepard. I haven't found their custom player characters compelling to play since the first DOS, where at least they had a distinct role and place and reason for existing in the story. They have trended towards making custom PCs interchangeable with playable companions/NPCs, seemingly in part so multiplayer allows for each player to experience an equal role. And that is fine for their style of game, but it detracts from the rich story and character writing that Bioware has been known for, and paying off personal and small/big narrative choices across games. If they changed and actually put as much effort into player characters as they do for their own NPCs, then I'd be more interested in what they had to offer in a DA or ME game.
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u/Altines Sep 27 '25
Owlcat sort of is with their new Expanse game
Honestly I think both Larian and Owlcat are carrying forward the spirit of old Bioware
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u/reinterpreted_onth Sep 27 '25
Let Larian do what they want. So far, itās not the genre of ME. And if having Larian dev ME means switching to a CRPG, itās a no go for me.
I love ME because they are an action-oriented RPG franchise where immersion and connection to the world and character is key. I want to keep it like that.
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u/YZJay Sep 27 '25
The mere fact that Bioware hasn't been shutdown after disappointing sales after disappointing sales is already a miracle, getting outside money mixed in will just be the death knell for Bioware.
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u/FredDurstDestroyer Sep 27 '25
Considering how many games EA is involved with, this could actually be apocalyptic for gaming lol. Saudi Arabia is not a country I want involved with gaming at all.
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u/T-VIRUS999 Sep 27 '25
No more femshep+Liara, no more same sex romances, probably restrictions on violence and adult themes, almost certainly the story will be aligned with their own values
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u/Budget-Silver-7742 Sep 27 '25
So what youāre saying is that anti woke grifters will love it.
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u/Grunt636 Sep 27 '25
This just in shepard is now only straight and asari are now a patriarchal society after males have been discovered (/s I hope)
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u/InnerDorkness Sep 27 '25
And Emily Wong got dismembered by the Turian Primarch bc she was sharing the truth with the ANN
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u/Fluffy_Art_1015 Sep 27 '25
Thereās a big Saudi investment group that buys companies and uses their value for holdings only. Similar to how the Ontario teachers union has shares and ownership of a lot of different companies to secure their retirement funds.
This could change nothing really. These kinds of investments are usually hands off.
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u/usernamescifi Sep 27 '25
Yes, but the Ontario teacher's union isn't attached to an entity that is well known for various crimes against humanityĀ
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u/Bloody-Tyran Sep 27 '25
And Quarian are oppressed hijab wearing expatriated people who seek to take back their land from a more technologically advanced group of tight knitted religious people.
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u/pensandpatches Sep 27 '25
Gonna make for some uncomfortable conversations with the Batarians and their whole slavery society thing.Ā
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u/AutoManoPeeing Sep 27 '25
You mean very positive and informative conversations about the moral righteousness of the Hegemony?
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u/Sektore Sep 27 '25
Why are the Saudis buying so many companies. Scopely, WWE, now possibly EA?
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u/Plenty-Climate2272 Sep 27 '25
If the Crown has a media empire (some directly, some by proxy), it ensures wealth even after the oil dries up. It's also why other Gulf states, especially the UAE, have pivoted to high tech and service economies.
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u/TankerDerrick1999 Sep 27 '25
Diversification of income, oil not gonna last forever, but investments will.
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u/usernamescifi Sep 27 '25
Because they want to accumulate good pr and diversify their assets. It distracts the general public from all the terrible stuff they do.Ā
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u/FIR3W0RKS Sep 27 '25
It's good financial strategy to diversify your holdings, particularly when they're so hugely dependent on their lands natural resources (ie oil).
Having said that however I would say the Saudi's are pretty cooked regardless once the oil runs out because of how they have pissed away their oil money. They'll have a ton of money then suddenly it will be gone overnight.
Gonna take decades for that to happen though so I'm not holding my breath.
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u/Xyex Sep 27 '25
Private
Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund
Yeah, no. Those two things do not mesh.
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u/Fluffy_Art_1015 Sep 27 '25
Private in this case means no longer publicly traded I believe.
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u/Xyex Sep 27 '25
Yes. I'm aware. My point is, the PIF is government money. They're still going to be beholden to investors, it's just going to be the Saudi government instead of Bob from two doors down.
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u/ClaudiaSilvestri Sep 27 '25
Arguably as owners 'government of Saudi Arabia' and 'private individual' are not all that different, since Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy. Not that that's a good thing, of course.
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Sep 27 '25
There goes any LGBTQ content.
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u/Raging-Badger Sep 27 '25
On the bright side, you might get to keep your female main character since the Saudiās have stepped up their affirmative action game. So long as you donāt romance anyone before marriage, then youāll wind up institutionalized for embarrassing your family
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Sep 27 '25
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/TheEltarn Sep 27 '25
It wasn't "always" kinda censored - it was censored in ME1, mostly because at the time game was developed, LGBTQ was on the rise, not part of the norm yet. Which is why FemShep can act surprised when Liara hits on her.
That being said, fictional characters having a specific sexual orientation - even if it's Bi - is important, because it can enrich their character. July in Cyberpunk 2077 is lesbian, and it's done right, it's a part of who she is, not just a marketing decision, so it makes her character much better. River is straight - same thing.
Making everyone Bi is, IMO, lazy writing.
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Sep 27 '25
Damn gaming is all about money and no more passion. I really hope this doesn't end up happening.
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u/Jonesizzle Sep 27 '25
Iām ill informed on what this means. Could someone explain this to me in layman terms, and how this could negatively or positively impact the next Mass Effect game?
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u/_Lady_Incognita_ Sep 27 '25
There are a few concerns here. Setting aside the giant elephant in the room that is Saudi interests buying a large chunk of EA and potentially insisting on creative decisions that align with their politics (while whitewashing their human rights violations with good PR and having our video game purchases funding future human rights violations) - there's the issue of EA being bought by private equity. That would be a big red flag regardless of where the money is going.
In simple terms, private equity firms take investors' money and buy struggling companies with the goal of turning a profit. While on paper you'd think they'd act in the best interest of that company, restructuring to increase long term profitability - that's not what PE firms tend to do. Very often they are ruthless vultures who will pick at the corpse of a company until there's nothing but bones left and then they'll liquidate and try to sell those bones for whatever profit they can squeeze from them. Then they move on to another struggling company and rinse and repeat.
If you thought EA was already too eager to make profit driven decisions at the expense of the quality of their products - EA as run by private equity is likely going to be significantly worse.
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u/Jonesizzle Sep 27 '25
Sheesh, maybe I shouldnāt have askedā¦ thanks for the explaining it to me, this certainly doesnāt sit well with me considering Iām looking forward to more Mass Effect. Is there any way the ME IP can be sold to another publisher/developer? Does stuff like that happen?
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u/Serres5231 Sep 27 '25
it does but its very unlikely with one of the biggest franchises EA/Bioware has under its belt.. Its like if Ubisoft would sell Far Cry or Assassins Creed.
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u/I4nth3 Sep 27 '25
My vague hope is that DA & ME Ips get eventually sold out to someone capable...like Larian Studios. Never going to happen, but one can always dream, eh?
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u/TheScreen_Slaver Sep 27 '25
Mass Effect and Star Wars Jedi series. If theyāre cooked then Iām genuinely gonna be pissed. Like bro wtf man fucking Saudi Arabia? Fuck that dogshit government and that dogshit company.
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u/Vegetable-Meaning413 Sep 27 '25
I would rather Microsoft buy them than the Saudis.
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u/TankerDerrick1999 Sep 27 '25
Yea, imagine a mass effect game made by 343i, shephard will be smoking next to master chief talking about the good old days.
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u/Guinea_pig_joe Sep 27 '25
Wow that went fast I literally just heard about it and now they actually closed
Could be good could be bad
I have a feeling it's going to be bad
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u/Insert_name_here33 Sep 27 '25
That's a quick way to turn the hype terrain from full speed to a dead stop...
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u/FredFredBurger69Nice Sep 27 '25
I'm guessing Mass Effect and Dragon Age are dead IPs within the next 2 years?
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u/Nerevar197 Sep 27 '25
In other words, EA will now be owned by a Saudi dictators and Jared fuckface Kushner.
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u/WayHaught_N7 Sep 27 '25
The best we can hope for when this goes through is Bioware getting sold to someone else. These type of deals have ruined every other business theyāve get involved with, being beholden to shareholders is bad enough but private equity groups are even more ruthless than the shareholders of publicly traded companies.
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u/CobraFive Sep 27 '25
Meh, bioware as a studio is long dead.
The actual best we can hope for is the IPs getting sold to someone else.
And I'm saying that as someone who liked veilguard.
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u/Due_Flow6538 Sep 27 '25
The Saudis! Like if the Shah had just tried to be a bread and circuses dictator instead of the regular kind of dictator.
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u/SometimesRay Sep 27 '25
I was on the fence about buying battlefield 6 but now I definitely will not
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u/satanic_black_metal_ Sep 27 '25
That would effectively be the end of me buying ANYTHING ea related.
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u/TonyRigatoni_ Sep 27 '25
It doesn't really matter, guys. The studio who made your favourite games has been dead for over a decade. It's not coming back no matter what.
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u/Ok-Secretary6550 Sep 27 '25
Isn't it fucking nuts that this applies to literally every well known AAA company there is?
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u/IndependentAd2029 Sep 27 '25
More like every AAA game, the team that made Morrowind isn't the exact same as the one that made Oblivion which isn't the exact same that made Skyrim.
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u/TheSaintsRonin Sep 27 '25
Alright, everyone letās pack up and move to Exodus. They are the future now.
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u/For-Prospero Sep 27 '25
I would love nothing more than to see EA be broken into a million pieces by Private Equity mismanagement, but the Suadi part concerns me.
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u/T-VIRUS999 Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
I have things id like to say about this deal, but those thoughts and concerns would probably get me banned
Instead I'll just say this
There goes any creative freedom that Bioware may have had once the middle east gets ahold of it
No more femshep+Liara, no more same sex romances, probably restrictions on adult themes, almost certainly the story will be aligned with their own values
Mass Effect is done
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u/TUBBS2001 Sep 27 '25
Future mass effect about to turn all the strong woman characters to the kitchen.
Wish they went public to a better audience, Iām sure these people will make the games better š
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u/OperationFrequent643 Sep 27 '25
At this point I hope BioWare gets bought out and another studio buys the rights to the mass effect and dragon age EPs. I want a studio full with passionate storytellers who understand what made these EPs great. Those 2 EPs are a goldmine if the right studio gets em and puts the correct time and energy into the creative process. I need whoever is buying the EP to be a true fan of ME and Dragonage. They deserve soooooooo much better than this shit show. Theyāre pioneers to storytelling in video game format.
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u/IDKwhy1madeaccount Sep 27 '25
And I thought Microsoft buying up publishers was bad. This is somehow so much worse
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u/propagandas Sep 27 '25
God I'm glad I don't work at EA anymore. My immediate thought is everyone is going to get shafted as stock is part of your comp.
I think THAT would have the biggest effect on bioware. It'll chase devs out because they're losing a ton of money.
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u/EchoedWhisp Sep 27 '25
Wait. Iām sorry. Does this mean Mass Effect is likely to be canned?
Imagine a Dragon Age Game after this, what is DA without its āwokeā weāve had since Origins?
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u/Ragnarok345 Sep 27 '25
Oh, good, Saudi Arabia. So among other things, quite the opposite of getting more same-sex romance options as we should have 15+ years ago, now weāll get none. Thatās always nice to hear.
This shit is so fucking infuriating.
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u/FederalCommercial355 Sep 27 '25
Yeah and the games end up encouraging religion, misogyny and homophobia.
Only male as a playable gender, only straight romance options and no gay characters whatsoever, all male combat squad whilst the women are on the ship. The Asari now canāt reproduce with women and are all straight now and need to get married to have children. Theyāve also given up their positions of power because they recognised that women shouldnāt have that power so itās given now to the Batarians.
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Sep 27 '25
Ahh, I am expecting a very diverse and faithful follow-up then.
It doesn't matter what fan fiction they drop mass effect ends with MEA, the same way the halo series ends with reach. I will not buy what ever shit they try to sell.
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u/A-Phantasmic-Parade Sep 27 '25
Ooff. The prospect of that new mass effect game is slipping though my fingers like sand ā¹ļø
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u/Fluttersniper Sep 27 '25
On one hand, no more fuckery involved with being a public company beholden to the greed of shareholders.
On the other hand, fuckery involved with being beholden to Saudi Arabia.
Hm. š«¤
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u/The_Kevinator_1000 Sep 27 '25
Well, Dragon Age isn't as much of a loss since Veilguard already killed it, but ME hasn't been murdered yet. Granted, Andromeda certainly put it in a coma, but it was still breathing on its own. There was still hope.
Now... I'm not so sure.
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u/americansherlock201 Sep 27 '25
Gonna suck not playing future mass effect games because in no world will I be supporting the Saudi government
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u/rpglaster Sep 27 '25
I imagine that kind of control would limit a lot of types of representation that appeals to much of Biowares fanabse.
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u/jitasquatter2 Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
With how horrible EA is, do we think this is bad news?
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u/iceydude168 Sep 27 '25
I have no idea. Given that the Saudis have been investing heavily in sports/esports, it's possible this is purely about the EA sports games (the real money-makers) and they don't really care about the single-player stuff for better or for worse
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u/Bulbaguy4 Sep 27 '25
Mass Effect Football!!! š£ļøš„š„š„
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u/Raging-Badger Sep 27 '25
In this case itās more likely that Mass Effect would die out than continue unabated. I donāt genuinely see the Saudiās actively investing into a game franchise well noted for its progressive views on sexuality. At the very least, any references of LGBT+ themes and any of the ever popular romance scenes would be removed. All references to non-Muslim religions would likely be removed, and all references to gender equality would likely be removed as well.
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u/Eastern-Fish-7467 Sep 27 '25
They would probably sell the ip before they sit on it. Actually I imagine that's what's gonna happen.
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u/peachesgp Sep 27 '25
Yes. They're greedy and money grubbing now. This will look like a new "good old days" under private equity. Every bad thing EA does will be turned up to unimaginable levels.
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u/TotalConfidence9644 Sep 27 '25
I don't care about BioWare's future. The BioWare I care for is a thing of the past. A well-painted and dressed corpse still makes for a poor dancing partner.
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u/hokagenaruto Sep 27 '25
this will truly mean the end of bioware in my eyes. if this happens even if they continue to make games in my eyes they will no longer cease to exist. RIP
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Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
I'm torn. On one hand "fans" complaining and continuing to be fake and on the other a conservative monarchical dictatorship.
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u/Low_Wonder1850 Sep 27 '25
I'm commander Shepard and the Riyadh Comedy Festival holo is the funniest video on the Citadel