A BioWare fan marked Halloween by creating a graveyard outside an Electronic Arts office, honoring development studios that were shut down or heavily restructured by the company. The display followed growing frustration among players over the closure of BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age, among other acclaimed series.
The makeshift cemetery included tombstones for Bullfrog, Pandemic, Visceral, Westwood, Origin and Maxis, with the creator noting that there was not enough time to make more. The studios were associated with games including Destroy All Humans!, Star Wars: Battlefront, Dungeon Keeper, Ultima, SimCity, Theme Park and Spore.
Each tombstone carried the studio’s logo, its establishment and closure dates, a quote and a large “RIP” inscription. BioWare’s stone used a line from Mordin Solus in Mass Effect 3: “It had to be Me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.” The quote was presented both as a reference to the series and as a reflection of BioWare’s influence on modern role-playing games.
The studio’s closure intensified fan anger, particularly because BioWare had reportedly spent more than five years working on Mass Effect Universe, the next entry in the franchise. Additional information about the canceled project led to petitions and protests online and in person.
The graveyard was one of several public expressions of support for Mass Effect. In Madrid, someone spray-painted “Save Mass Effect” outside an EA office, while fans in New York City paid for a similar message on a Times Square billboard.
According to the available report, EA has not publicly responded to the protests and appeals. The company is described as viewing Star Wars as a more dependable option for a science-fiction action game, making a reversal of its decision appear unlikely.
Sources: Polygon.