Update: Canadian MP Don Davies has provided comment on the BioWare petition:
“BioWare has cultivated an international following from their renowned video game franchises like Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate, and Dragon Age. Canada’s video game industry creates some of our most important cultural exports, and BioWare was among our biggest success stories.
Electronic Arts, their American parent company, was never invested in the success of BioWare since they purchased the studio as part of a larger acquisition in 2007. This is a pattern with video game publishers like EA. They buy smaller developers, set unrealistic timelines, overwork their employees, and meddle in the development process, resulting in poorer quality games. Then, when sales fail to meet expectations, they blame the developers, lay off workers, and eventually shut down the studio for short-term profit.
New Democrats want BioWare to stay in business, preferably under Canadian control. We believe that the employees at BioWare ought to have the first opportunity to buy back their studio and continue making the games that fans love. The petition primarily asks the federal government to provide the required capital. This is absolutely possible. Our goal with the petition is to demonstrate just how many Canadians believe this is a worthwhile investment in our entertainment industry.”
Original story continues below.
It’s already been a couple of weeks since EA shut down BioWare, but the fight to save the studio is still picking up steam. And now, after a fanmade petition reached 300,000 signatures, a Canadian politician has started an official government petition to save the Mass Effect developer.
Petition e-7898 was initiated by Burnaby, British Columbia resident Brendan Routh, and sponsored by Vancouver Kingsway MP Don Davies. The petition primarily calls upon the Canadian government to provide BioWare with the necessary capital to secure independence and ownership of its intellectual property. However, it further asks the government to protect Canadian businesses from “being dictated by American and foreign corporate interests.”
The petition also asks the government to “champion the values of inclusivity, tolerance, democracy, justice, and civil rights at the centre of Canada’s national identity by preserving BioWare’s invaluable contribution to the global entertainment industry.”
At the time of writing, the petition has already racked up 2,861 signatures. And while that’s a far cry from the 307,000 signatures on the change.org petition, the Canadian government only requires that 500 people sign it before it’s brought before the House of Commons for discussion. And while it will be presented to the House of Commons, it remains to be seen whether or not the Canadian government will actually act on it.
However, Don Davies has taken to Bluesky to argue the petition’s merits. In a post, Davies argues “BioWare’s US parent company, EA, has decided to close the studio. These publishers buy developers, run them into the ground, and rip them apart for profit. There’s a pattern of US companies buying Canadian businesses and shutting them down, costing Canadians their jobs.”
In a followup post, Davies continues: “The developers at BioWare know how to run their studio. They know how to make the games that fans love. They should be given the first opportunity – and the federal support – to buy it and run it themselves.”
This petition comes a little over a week after another Canadian politician, Avi Lewis, spoke out about the closure, and floated the idea of the Canadian government helping BioWare gain its independence from EA. But, now that there’s a petition that has crossed its signature threshold, there’s actually a slim possibility that something is going to happen.
I’ve reached out to Don Davies for comment, and I’ll update this article if I hear anything. But, who knows; maybe there’s a chance that something will come of that incredible leaked Mass Effect 5 trailer, after all.
Jackie Thomas is the Senior Tech Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. She’s been covering gaming hardware for more than a decade for IGN, TechRadar, Gizmodo, PC Gamer and more. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
