r/masseffect • u/AccordingUse3172 • 7h ago

DISCUSSION Any Devs who could take over?

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So the news is a huge kick in the balls. Is that truly it then or would there be any chance EA could sell the IP? Honestly coudnt see it going to CD Project or Bethesda. Dk if there's anyone else who could take over ot will EA just let the franchise rot out of spite?

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u/ConcreteExist 6h ago

Only way EA is selling any IP is if they fall on hard enough financial times, so I'm not holding my breath.

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u/godsdebris 6h ago

But isnt the Saudi company that purchased EA end up with a lot of debt from the sale? They could make some money back by selling IPs.

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u/LunaTheExile 5h ago

The IP in holding, even if they wouldn't do anything with it for the next 15 years is way more valuable to the company, than selling it. You can only sell once, and once that money burns out, thats that. Holding the IP keeps value up for the company and still holds the door open for future projects, once dust has settled.

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u/chloralhydrat 5h ago

... well, yes - but it won't be 'money burning out' - they have debts to pay, and with increasing interest rates... keeping the debt on their books is going to cost them a lot. So it might be the prudent thing to do to sell some of the IPs.

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u/Stopthatduck 2h ago

I don’t see the value of Mass Effect touching those debts.

They aren’t going to start selling things like Mass Effect for what would basically be pocket change for them, when sitting on the IP and maybe revisiting it in a few years could be more considerably profitable. Even if they don’t revisit it, it would be dumb for them to close that door.

Unfortunately, Mass Effect is just in that awkward limbo where it isn’t valuable enough to sell, and it isn’t important enough to keep.

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u/LunaTheExile 5h ago

That is why they are "trimming the fat" now with Bioware closure and layoffs, as well as combining teams to work together on one project.

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u/BryndenRiversStan 5h ago

Realistically, how much could the mass effect IP be worth? The original trilogy, including legendary edition and Andromeda sold less than 30 million copies. And it's worth will only go down with time.

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u/dpap12 4h ago

Depends, if they branch out to licensing the IP to studios for film, tv, or animation, then the value could rise if it becomes a big enough hit

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u/LunaTheExile 4h ago

As long as it is part of EA's portfolio, it will hold value for the company. Say for example if Saudi's would want to sell off EA or make it public again, EA with Mass Effect is worth more than EA without it. And the IP holds potential future gains for the company, if say after 10 years the series popularity starts to resurface and demand for it rises up high, and/or someone makes a really good pitch for the IP. That is why so many publishers hold on to their IP's even if they don't do anything with them. IP sales are somewhat rare because barely anyone is selling, and barely anyone is buying either, unless they expect to make their investment back with profit from such acquirement.

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u/SHansen45 1h ago

i imagine they wait for the show if it ever releases, if it does good and has good reception we might get a new game, but a show that is in production is gonna take forever, 2030 maybe

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u/iceydude168 4h ago

Can't you just license it out? "Pay us $5m and 10% of the profits and you can make a Mass Effect card game" or whatever and they can keep ownership of the IP while turning it into cash flow

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u/LunaTheExile 4h ago

High risks for low returns plus a lot more corporate trickery on top, like tax writeoff issues etc etc. A dormant IP holds more value for the company than a potentially botched licensing with small returns. Sometimes just negotiating and managing third party licensing can cost more than what it is worth too.

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u/ConcreteExist 6h ago

It's a possibility, but not one I'm going to hold my breath on.

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u/fartothere 3h ago

They'll probably amoratize the IP to record losses so that they pay less taxes.

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u/SHansen45 1h ago

that’s why EA is the one saddled with the debt and Saudi Arabia is the premium oil exporter, money literally flows out of the ground they’re just having liquidity issues