A player known as Xveers has created a cardboard memorial to studios closed by Electronic Arts and installed it overnight outside the company’s Vancouver offices. He shared images of the installation on Reddit’s r/gaming forum on November 1, saying he wanted employees to see it when they arrived for work on November 2.
The memorial contains seven graves, including one for BioWare, whose closure was officially announced on October 21. The decision also ended development of the next Mass Effect, announced in 2020. The closure was part of a wider plan that includes the removal of around 400 positions, or nearly 3% of EA’s workforce.
The studios represented are BioWare, Bullfrog, Pandemic, Origin, Visceral, Maxis and Westwood. Xveers said he had also considered creating plaques for Mythic and Black Box, but ran out of time. Each grave carries a short epitaph referencing the studio’s history or games.
The installation takes some liberties with the facts: Maxis still exists within EA, which continues to support The Sims 4 under that name.
Xveers also said responsibility for BioWare’s situation does not lie solely with EA. He pointed to problems within the studio, while arguing that forcing Dragon Age: The Veilguard to begin as a live-service project, using an unsuitable engine for Mass Effect: Andromeda’s role-playing systems and moving staff to FIFA projects had also contributed to the outcome. He added that expecting every game to become a blockbuster was unrealistic.
The memorial follows wider fan activity surrounding Mass Effect. The #SaveMassEffect petition has passed 290,000 signatures in less than a week, while fans are calling for a large-scale play session of Mass Effect Legendary Edition on November 7, the series’ annual N7 Day, to demonstrate continued interest in the franchise.
Sources: Numerama.