Over the last few years, the conversation surrounding the new Mass Effect game has shifted.

It's gone from people wondering whether modern BioWare has the chops to follow up on the original Mass Effect trilogy, to questioning whether BioWare will actually be around long enough to finish the project.

Indeed, with EA having been bought out by an investor consortium for a staggering $55 billion — and taking on its own debt in the process — mass layoffs and game cancellations seem inevitable.

And for BioWare, a developer that hasn't produced a hit since 2021's Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the idea of imminent corporate streamlining is particularly concerning.

"[BioWare have] been struggling as a studio, as a brand have been struggling in recent years, and I don't know if [EA] will keep funding that one," says Emmanuel Rosier, in an interview with PC Gamer.

Rosier previously spent nine years at EA, working as a senior manager — and it's fair to say he won't be placing any bets on BioWare surviving under the company's new overlords.

With regards to the next Mass Effect specifically, Rosier is quite damning: "I will believe it when I see it, the next Mass Effect game, let's put it that way."

He goes on to explain that EA's new owners simply won't have the same sentimentality for a once revered developer like BioWare: "They can pull the plug very, very easily. And if the new investor, they don't have that many feelings about the history of the portfolio, they will take the most financially sound decision, most probably."

Almost as soon as word of EA's buyout spread, there were reports of BioWare staff bracing for potential layoffs. The fact that we still haven't seen anything of the new Mass Effect — beyond its initial teaser and some concept art — does not bode well.

Do you agree with Rosier? What do you think the future holds for BioWare? Let Commander Shepherd rest in the comments section below.

[source pcgamer.com]