A fan group backing the #SaveMassEffect campaign has taken it offline. We Are Mass Effect, a fan community founded by Ariel Pena Aguilar, teamed up with illustrator and YouTuber Kala Elizabeth to buy a slot on a Times Square billboard in New York on October 26. The ad read "Keelah Si'yah #SaveMassEffect" and apparently ran for 15 seconds once an hour, costing just $250.
This comes about a week after EA shut down BioWare and cancelled the next Mass Effect game, part of around 400 job cuts across the company. Elizabeth, Ariel and Mer of We Are Mass Effect then started a GoFundMe for three mobile billboards: one outside EA's Redwood City headquarters, one outside its Edmonton office, and one at The Game Awards in Los Angeles on December 10. The $5,274 goal was reportedly hit in under 15 minutes, and donations are now paused at $5,715 from 89 donors. Any leftover money was meant for the Game Workers' Hardship Fund, though that fund can't take direct donations right now.
A separate Change.org petition under the same hashtag was started by a fan named Joe Smith on October 21. It was nearing 180,000 signatures last week before climbing to about 267,000 now. Smith reportedly reached out to Elizabeth about working together, and the GoFundMe asks donors to sign the petition, though neither side has described a formal partnership.
The petition asks EA to keep funding the series or license it to another studio. EA doesn't seem to have responded, while former BioWare producer Mark Darrah thinks EA could sell its BioWare IPs or just shelve them.
Source: TechPowerUp News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing