The world isn’t ready to give up BioWare just yet, and now there’s people asking the Canadian government to step in and help save the studio. And it’s working! Well, kind of.
Over in the land of Canadians, an official Canadian parliamentary e-petition that passes 500 valid signatures can be put before the House of Commons. Which brings us to a petition by Brendan Routh of Burnaby, British Columbia, and authorised for publication by NDP MP Don Davies.
The petition currently sits at 2,304 signatures, which is considerably more than the 500 signatures needed to get it put before Parliament. The petition remains open until 4 March, 2027, at which point the Clerk of Petitions carries out final validation and if at least 500 valid signatures remains, the government has 45 days to respond.
“BioWare is one of Canada’s most important cultural exports to the world in the 21st century, selling tens of millions of units of their video games globally,” writes Brendan Routh.
So what is the petition asking for? Well, it calls for the government to provide the money necessery for BioWare to buy its freedom from EA and secure its IP in the process so that it can resume being a Canadian company.
That’s a pretty big goal, obviously. The biggest obstacle would be EA, because they cannot be forced to sell BioWare if they don’t want to. And we’ve not heard anything about EA being interested in selling BioWare and its IP. The other issue is that BioWare is in the process of being closed right now, and this petition won’t go before the Canadian Government until at least March 2027. And finally, even if the petition makes it to the House of Commons – which seems likely – the government is not actually obligated to do anything about it.
That said, a member of the Canadian government has. been paying attention to the closure. Avi Lewis, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, said he wanted BioWare to get “the first opportunity—and the federal support—to buy it and run it themselves.”
The petition also makes a more intriguing claim, describing the closure of BioWare “an immense loss to and possibly a targeted attack on Canada’s cultural legacy”.
It does note that BioWare is being shut following EA being bought by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment fund and Affinity Partners. That said, saying it’s a targeted attack on Canada’s cultural legacy seems a bit far-fetched.
Anyway, the petition also asks the government of Canda to “Protect Canadian businesses and cultural institutions from being dictated by American and foreign corporate interests” and “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.”
Can’t knock Brendan Routh for aiming high, I guess.
Meanwhile, the other Save Mass Effect petition is now over 300,000 signatures, but that one is less fussed about BioWare and more interested in ensuring EA commits to keeping Mass Effect alive.
