Canadian politician urges government buyout to save BioWare after studio closure

Avi Lewis, leader of the New Democratic Party in Canada, has called on the Canadian government to provide funding so employees of developer BioWare can buy the studio back from publisher Electronic Arts. Lewis made the proposal on social media following the shutdown of the Edmonton-based developer, according to Kotaku, IGN, and Polygon. [1][2][3][8][9][10]

The proposal follows an announcement on October 21 from publisher Electronic Arts regarding a major restructuring, which resulted in the closure of the Edmonton studio and an estimated 400 total job losses across the company, IGN reported. As FTMQ Gaming reported earlier, Electronic Arts closed the 30-year-old studio and canceled early development on the next entry in the Mass Effect series. [2][11][12]

Following the studio closure, purported in-engine pre-production footage for the next Mass Effect entry leaked online, as reported by The Verge, Dexerto, and VGC. In addition, GamesRadar reported that fans of the franchise have been messaging Palworld developer Pocketpair, urging the studio to buy the Mass Effect intellectual property from Electronic Arts. [4][5][6][7]