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/Modern-Shinobi Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

As someone that has had experience with Saudi investment and ownership in products that I do and/or used to consume, they are a very hands off ownership group. I've heard from people in the eSports industry, for example, that have worked in or with some companies with Saudi ownership, including a few apart of the LGBTQ+ community, and they don't really enforce their beliefs outside of their own border...but for some of them, most I heard from were on-air talent, they couldn't work any events in Saudi Arabia aka the big money events. In motorsports it's the same thing. Champion any cause you want and act however you want, so long as you're not within the Saudi border, they don't really care

EDIT: Forgot to mention on my original point cuz it slipped my mind but I'm honestly more worried about the Kushner side of things than the Saudis

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u/Senn-66 Aug 05 '26

I've heard similar things. Most of the people commenting on this really don't understand the Saudi mindset, which TBF is really strange to outsiders. The Saudi leadership cares deeply that the Saudi state remains a pure and godly (in their mind) realm, and they would also like to see their particular take on Islam be dominant in the Islamic world, which is why they fund schools and such, but they generally view the outside world, and especially the non-Muslim world, as both a playground for their elite to indulge in all manner of behaviors, and also lands for them extract profit. If degenerate westerners want to pay for gay video games, they aren't going to care. They will not allow them to be sold in Saudia Arabia, and may restrict them in Muslim markets, but they don't care enough about the West to stop us from giving them money.

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u/VanguardN7 Aug 05 '26

I'm far more expectant of more deeply built in gay toggles for development of the next ME (auto-gay-allowing in West, auto-straight in repressive nations, maybe player toggle in certain other places) than for same sex content to not exist.

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u/Senn-66 Aug 05 '26

Yup. Also really off topic for this sub, but this mindset is also why Saudia Arabia is surprisingly weak on Israel. MBS was chomping at that bit to normalize relations before 10/7 and Gaza made that impossible, because the Saudi's don't give a flip about Jerusalem as a holy site (for them its just taking the focus off Mecca and Medina), nor does he really care about the Palestinians.

The Saudi's can't afford to totally alienate the Muslim world, so they are constrained in what they do by public opinion (especially now), but if they could make the Palestinians just like, go away so they can make money, they'd do it in a heartbeat.

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u/VanguardN7 Aug 05 '26

I think they're so money centric that if they could make Palestinians OR Israelis OR anyone else but themselves, go away so they can make money, they'd do it in a heartbeat too. This is the transnational crowd.

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u/Senn-66 Aug 05 '26

Agreed, but the Israelis have money and the Palestinians don’t, hence the push to normalize.