BioWare Co-Founder Says Mass Effect 5 Will Cost Over $200 Million To Save

Trent Oster, the co-founder of BioWare, has revealed that fans looking to save the Mass Effect 5 following the closure of the studio will have to cough up a significant amount of dough to do so — at least $200 million, in fact.

Electronic Arts announced last month that it was shuttering BioWare as part of another round of mass layoffs at the publisher, with Mass Effect Universe — aka Mass Effect 5 — being scrapped as a result. Soon after a petition was established on Change.org that quickly attracted over 200,000 signatures in hopes of saving Mass Effect, either by having EA selling the IP or commit to funding new games in the franchise.

However, speaking on X, Oster revealed that realistically it would take a lot of money to save Mass Effect from staying in the vaults at EA.

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. That said, I think it can be done well for less than that amount with a disciplined approach and an experienced team.

Following the news that BioWare had been shut, footage appeared online of Mass Effect Universe giving us a look at what might have been. In addition former BioWare veteran Mark Darrah suggested that EA could sell the Mass Effect IP since no one is working on it anymore, although admitted they could easily just leave the series gathering dust.

[Source – Trent Oster on X via GamesRadar]

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