Following BioWare’s announcement that the studio was shutting down and that its Mass Effect project had been canceled, many fans of the sci-fi RPG franchise had taken to social media to figure out how it could be saved. BioWare co-founder Trent Oster, however, has pointed out that attempting to save the franchise would cost quite a bit of money.
Following posts earlier this week about wanting to “get some of the original band back together” after being energized by seeing support from the fans, Oster went on to explain that saving Mass Effect would involve an upfront cost of more than $200 million, since fans would “want the best of AAA development.” However, he is still confident that the game could be developed for less money than that.
“The scary component of Mass Effect is the audience is going to want the best of ‘AAA’ development. Rough ballpark (based on contemporaries) is $200M+. That is a big number to commit up front. There has to be a bigger plan in place for the IP to make the math work.
“That said, I think it can be done well for less than that amount with a disciplined approach and an experienced team.”
A bigger question, however, would be whether EA would be willing to let go of the Mass Effect IP to begin with. Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah believes that the company might be willing to part ways with Mass Effect down the line. Noting that EA is currently in its “cost control mode”, once it goes into “revenue-generation mode”, the company might look at how it could monetize the IP in the future.
“Remember, BioWare is 100% owned by EA. EA owns all the IPs. They own Dragon Age, they own Mass Effect, they own Jade Empire. That doesn’t change the situation, really, at all. …Now, there’s nobody working on a [BioWare] game, or games, within the EA organization, and chances are there never will be, which might make them more likely to sell off those IPs. But it might also make them more likely to just try to forget that they ever existed and bury them in the vault.
“I think we still are gonna have to wait a little bit before we see if EA has any interest in selling off some of its dormant IPs. Right now, they seem to be in cost control mode. They might start in a revenue-generation mode where selling IPs might be more desirable.”
A more recent report has indicated that EA may have had ulterior motives when it decided to cancel Mass Effect. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, sources have indicated that EA wanted to focus its efforts and resources on a brand-new Star Wars Battlefront game rather than going with Mass Effect yet again. This comes down to the company’s attempts to get out of its $18 billion debt following its acquisition, along with a reported deal inked with Lucasfilm to create Star Wars Battlefront 3. It would also be a “less risky, more predictable” bet for EA.
