r/masseffect • u/Rondine1990 • Aug 05 '26

NEWS Its official, Saudi-led group bought EA...

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/aug/05/video-game-maker-ea-bought-by-saudi-led-group

I honestly fear for the open-minded future of our franchise. Mass Effect was a big part of my life, and I loved that it tackled topics that might be controversial in its own way. It was never in your face, but subtle enough to be believable... especially with the choice of a badass female Shepard.

Let's hope they don't meddle too much, too quickly...

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u/EducationalLuck2422 Aug 05 '26

Also, the Saudis most likely only care about EA Sports. The worst we have to worry about is them selling BioWare and/or their IPs off (which may or may not actually be a good thing).

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u/HugeNavi Aug 05 '26

The thing is that we've had reports that EA was actually trying at some point to sell Bioware, but was unsuccessful. Either EA overvalued the sale price for Bioware, or everyone knew to stay away from them. Bioware themselves would have probably looked into finding investors so they could go independent, and still not come up with something. At this point, Bioware is too small to do anything. If you bought them today, they are too small to make a game, and their IPs are either dead or in critical condition. They are not in a good situation and they would likely not make it on their own. If they find someone to bail them out of their current predicament, good. Unfortunately, sticking with EA is their best bet.

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u/OkMathematician7206 Aug 05 '26

How the mighty have fallen, they used to be the gold standard.

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u/HugeNavi Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

Competition in the segment has been brutal. Other studios moved in to Bioware territory and stole their lunch. While most aren't doing the save carry-over thing like Bioware (considering Veilguard, neither does Bioware anymore), except the ambitious Blood of the Dawnwalker studio. Owlcat, Obsidian and Archetype have stepped in to fill the mid range (60-80% meta-critic score), while CD Project Red and Larian will dominate the high end (80-90%+ meta-critic score), with the occasional Sandfall studio being disruptive, and other studios licensing IP (Warhammer, D&D, WH40k), or using transmedia IP (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Expanse etc.) to make their games, budgeted accordingly for their segment. EA spends hundreds of millions of dollars on Bioware to sell a million copies, erode trust and generate brand damage.

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u/Contrary45 Aug 05 '26

Archetype has not released a single game yet we dont know what they will be like for all we know Exodus with be a broken mess on lauch with writing the equivalent of Veilguard. They are owned by Hasbro after all

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u/HugeNavi Aug 05 '26

Absolutely, but based on market projections, they are to sit in the 1-2m copies sold range. Which puts them in direct competition to the segment, if not market share, that Bioware currently resides in. It is possible that they can synergize positively, or negatively, depending on how one and the other goes. It might make people look forward to more squad based Sci-Fi RPGs, it might make people not look forward to more squad based Sci-Fi RPGs. And the same goes for Owlcat's The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. It is volatile, but overall, it looks like Owlcat, now seeking to work on Baldur's Gate 4, is looking to thoroughly replace Bioware and Archetype at the very least wants to as well. I am personally not at all impressed by Exodus and I have had no interest in it since the first reveal trailer, the premise just does not look good. I blame Drew Karpyshyn's hard stance on Sci-Fi for that.

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u/Contrary45 Aug 05 '26

Copies sold =/= quality of product

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u/HugeNavi Aug 05 '26

Absolutely agree, but no company is going to spend $300m US to make back $53m US in gross revenue. Not net revenue, gross revenue. It may be the best game in the world, but it also needs to make a profit. Otherwise, putting the money on the S&P will make more money than investing in EA and Mass Effect. So why would you do it? Because EA only funds FIFA (Sports FC) and Madden with their own money, and maybe Battlefield. Everything else is investor money. And if investors don't invest, because there is no RoI, then the games don't get made.