Anyone hoping to buy Mass Effect from EA and finish what BioWare started needs to get saving now, as it could cost over $200 million (£150m).
That’s according to BioWare co-founder Trent Oster, who reckons that’s what a new Mass Effect game would need to meet fans’ expectations.
“The scary component of Mass Effect is the audience is going to want the best of ‘AAA’ development,” Oster said on Twitter/X, as spotted by GamesRadar.
The scary component of Mass Effect is the audience is going to want the best of “AAA” development. Rough ballpark (based on contemporaries) is $200M+. That is a big number to commit up front. There has to be a bigger plan in place for the IP to make the math work.
— Trent Oster (@TrentOster) November 5, 2026
“Rough ballpark (based on contemporaries) is $200M+. That is a big number to commit up front. There has to be a bigger plan in place for the IP to make the math work.”
He did add that it could be done for less, though. “That said, I think it can be done well for less than that amount with a disciplined approach and an experienced team,” Oster said.
“I think a game could be done cheaper, if you kept it simple and hit the big beats,” he added in a separate tweet. “It wouldn’t be what the team described in the Universe concept. The big push would be getting the IP free. The fans deserve more than one game.”
I think a game could be done cheaper, if you kept it simple and hit the big beats. It wouldn’t be what the team described in the Universe concept. The big push would be getting the IP free. The fans deserve more than one game.
— Trent Oster (@TrentOster) November 6, 2026
Oster’s comments come as the #SaveMassEffect campaign continues to grow following EA’s decision to close BioWare and cancel Mass Effect 5. Fans want EA to keep making Mass Effect games, or hand the series over to a studio that will.
Oster has backed the campaign too. “I love seeing all the energy around #SaveMassEffect,” he wrote on 4th November. “I think there is a still a great thesis for a well-funded RPG developer who can deliver. Makes me want to get some of the original band back together.”
EA has not confirmed whether or not it would consider selling the IP.
The petition created to save BioWare’s well-loved sci-fi RPG, Mass Effect, topped 185,000 signatures in just days. It’s now exceeded 317,000. Joe Smith, credited with starting the petition, isn’t necessarily asking EA to change its mind about BioWare; instead, the petition calls for “decisive action by committing to the continued development of Mass Effect”.
We said a sad farewell to BioWare last month. The closure, which came just months after Saudi Arabia’s $55bn leveraged buyout of EA, was anticipated by experts, but drew widespread condemnation and messages of sympathy from across the industry.
A new report claims EA closed BioWare because it was forced to choose between investing in one of two sci-fi projects: a new Mass Effect game or a new Star Wars Battlefront game. And it chose the latter.
Fans are trying other routes to keep BioWare’s doors open, too. Canadian fans of the studio have escalated their grievances to the governmental level, calling on the Canadian Government to step in and save the studio from closure, seemingly after Canada’s New Democratic Party leader Avi Lewis called on the government to do so.