Since EA made the decision to shutter Mass Effect creators BioWare, effectively ending the series, fans have launched an intense campaign to save the beloved sci-fi saga. So far they’ve deployed petitions, billboards, banner trucks and video reunions. This week, pulling a page from a previous protest over the third game’s ending, they’re trying a new tactic: Cupcakes.
Alongside @kalaelizabeth, we sent N7 cupcakes to EA’s HQ for #SaveMassEffect!
In 2012, fans sent cupcakes to BioWare over ME3’s endings. We’re echoing that gesture with a different message, using peaceful, creative ways to make our voices heard. pic.twitter.com/xXy9x1vjdk
— We are Mass Effect – #SaveMassEffect (@WeAreMassEffect) November 13, 2026
On Friday, illustrator Kala Elizabeth and other “Save Mass Effect” organizers arranged to have a batch of N7 decorated cupcakes sent to EA’s Redwood City headquarters. While gifting tasty baked goods to express outrage seems a little odd, the play is an homage to a similar campaign from 2012, when fans were angered by Mass Effect 3’s infamous endings. That movement, calling themselves “Retake Mass Effect,” took umbrage with the differing paths all ultimately funneling towards similar, lackluster conclusions. Poking fun, fans sent the studio 400 cupcakes, each decorated with red, green and blue icing, but tasting exactly the same on the inside.
While it wasn’t limited to cupcakes alone, the 2012 movement was somewhat successful. BioWare agreed to release DLC later that year that expanded upon the ending choices. While the resolution remained controversial, it delivered a loud message to fans eager to change trajectory. BioWare, not needing that many cupcakes at the time, sent the desserts to a local youth shelter.
“The delivery person was asked quite a few questions by EA staff at reception, who told her they were very much aware of the #SaveMassEffect movement,” posted the WeAreMassEffect account. “Despite this, the reception staff accepted the cupcakes.”
This time around, fans only cooked up a dozen cupcakes. Given the stakes of this fight, no amount of treats are likely to move the needle. After years of tension between the studio and publisher, EA closed BioWare in October. This was shortly after being acquired by a consortium of private equity firms, including the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. The key reason is reportedly to rally resources around safer bets like Star Wars tie-ins.
The unspectacular end of BioWare and its games has cut deep for fans, who are hoping to reverse course at some level, improbable as that may be. Its major fronts are a public petition, which has received over a quarter million signatures, and sympathies from the Canadian New Democratic Party, whose leadership has used the untimely fate of the Edmonton-based developer to lobby for stronger labor protections against private equity.
