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Mass Effect fans have bought a #SaveMassEffect billboard in Times Square after EA shut down BioWare last week, but the fight to save the sci-fi RPG franchise isn't stopping there.
Whether New York City residents are familiar with Commander Shepard's fight against the Reapers or not, everyone in Times Square was alerted to #SaveMassEffect when its billboard went up today. It's the latest in a string of moves from the community backing the sci-fi RPG franchise and its developers as they work to give them a second wind.
"Keelah si'yah," text on the billboard said. It's a reference to the in-universe language of Khelish, which is spoken by the Quarian species. According to the Mass Effect Wiki, the line specifically translates to "by the homeworld I hope to find one day."
WE'RE IN TIMES SQUARE!
Together with @kalaelizabeth, we've managed to get a #SaveMassEffect billboard up in Times Square, NYC, all day today!
1560 Broadway, above the Pelé store (Duffy Square)
15 seconds every hour at :35
HOLD THE LINE!https://t.co/wNP9Ak9Vh8
— We are Mass Effect - #SaveMassEffect (@WeAreMassEffect) October 26, 2026
Those supporting #SaveMassEffect come from all over, but the billboard featured in Times Square on this late-October day came from a smaller group known as We Are Mass Effect, a community dedicated to paying tribute to the franchise started in summer 2025 by a 27-year-old in Spain named Ariel Peña Aguilar. He, along with his second-in-command and partner María 'Mer' Mora, as well as X/Twitter user Kala Elizabeth, sought to publish the billboard in hopes of drawing attention to their cause.
The idea originally came from Aguilar and Mer before Elizabeth was brought in for assistance and is part of their goal to keep Mass Effect alive. So far, their efforts include emailing EA directly, contacting Canadian politicians, and doing everything they can to draw more attention to their cause. The best part? Their Times Square billboard is just the beginning.
Aguilar told IGN that community organization around canceled Star Wars project The Hunt for Ben Solo is partly what inspired his push to save Mass Effect. He added, "I thought something like that could work really well for our situation, too."
Our beloved @drowwpoison, co-ceo of We Are Mass Effect, who's been working incredibly hard to give the #SaveMassEffect movement even more power, went to see our billboard in Times Square, New York City!
Sign the petition: https://t.co/AhcEFDBbd0 https://t.co/69jfSoxyci
— We are Mass Effect - #SaveMassEffect (@WeAreMassEffect) October 26, 2026
"At first, I thought it might be a bit of a crazy idea," Aguilar said of the billboard, "but then I brought it up with my project partner, Mer, and the incredible content creator Kala Elizabeth, without whom none of this would have been possible. We all agreed it was worth doing, and we started organizing everything. And we have more plans! The billboard is just the first step."
There's a natural question that comes up whenever there's a grassroots push like this: How much does it cost to put up a billboard in Times Square? Well, at least on a Monday in October, it's only about $250. Both Aguilar and Elizabeth confirmed the financial cost of boosting #SaveMassEffect wasn't the issue. Instead, it was copyright hangups that gave them more trouble than anything, even if it's now a "fun anecdote," according to Aguilar.
"We initially had someone else make a different graphic, but it said 'BioWare' in it, so we had to change it last minute because of copyright," Elizabeth told us. "There was a lot of back-and-forth in a rush to fix it, and I had to remake it myself. I did end up using the wrong Mass Effect saying because I've been thinking about the author Catherynne Valente, who announced she had been working on Mass Effect 5, and she had written a previous novel about the Quarian ark for Andromeda. Keelah si'yah is that ark. It's still somewhat fitting of the intent, but we mean keelah se'lai. Oops."
As if there was ever any doubt, there are millions of people who still care about Mass Effect. Aguilar clarified that We Are Mass Effect isn't directly affiliated with the major petition going around, even if they do "fully support the petition and the effort behind it." For him, they are "simply fans trying to use every tool and resource at our disposal to support the cause and make sure this movement continues for as long as possible."
Aguilar sees the joint effort as "a message of unity" in the aftermath of decisions made by EA "that goes far beyond our concern for Mass Effect or Dragon Age." This is about more than video games.
"At the end of the day," Aguilar added, "these franchises are works of art, and while they mean an enormous amount to us, we're also deeply concerned about all the developers who have lost their jobs, as well as those who may still face layoffs in the future, especially during such a difficult period for the video game industry."
He continued: "They're the ones who deserve our support the most. We're going to hold the line." It should be said, though, that no one here is under the illusion that EA has any intention of changing course – or even listening.
As Mass Effect fans work together for another trip among the stars, dissenting opinions have seen naysayers push back against any hope at a revival. Aguilar mentioned the billboard team is "familiar with EA's track record when it comes to how they treat their IPs and developers," adding, "it's easy to understand why fans would feel defeated from the outset." Even if expecting change from EA is a "naïve and unrealistic expectation," they'll continue to push forward anyway.
"Unfortunately, I think we all know that EA probably does not care," Elizabeth added, "but amidst all the horrible press right now around EA's new owners, Jared Kushner and the Saudi government, I hope their track record of killing games becomes another topic of the conversation. This is, albeit, just a small part of the corrupt government and sports washing conversation around EA's new owners, but is absolutely part of it.
The #SaveMassEffect petition just hit 200,000! Absolutely insane work by everyone, keep it up!https://t.co/tHiNeNhmCt
— Kala Elizabeth #SaveMassEffect (@kalaelizabeth) October 26, 2026
"SaveMassEffect is also about trying to save media. History. BioWare was a pillar of Edmonton for 30 years, and EA bought them out and shut them down like they have done for now 20 studios. I don't want them to sit on IPs and let them die. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Dead Space are just a few, and they all deserve better. What happens when this massive debt they've accrued closes EA, too? Then what?
"This is about the preservation of media and preserving the work of the studios that EA keeps killing. We don't even know if EA let BioWare try to buy themselves out or let someone else buy them before they closed the studio, canceled the game, and fired the 50 employees keeping BioWare together. What they're doing is wrong. BioWare deserved better. The employees deserved better, and the fans deserve better, too.
"We are probably looking at a future where EA is going to sit on these IPs while they let them die but still make merchandise of Commander Shepard. All while Andrew Wilson collects his massive yearly bonuses and lets EA turn into an esports-only company controlled by the Saudi government."
What comes next for the movement at large isn't totally clear, but We Are Mass Effect has a few tricks left up its sleeve. Elizabeth said one plan is to launch a GoFundMe, "with the intent that if people donate a few dollars without breaking their banks in this economy, we can get some more mobile billboards to spread the word." Even if BioWare and Mass Effect are truly gone, even if the efforts of #SaveMassEffect yield no change, there is hope for the future. November 7, 2027, marks 20 years of Mass Effect, and even if EA doesn't celebrate it, Elizabeth knows the fans, voice actors, and developers will.
"I know they care and they're still going to be here for the fans who aren't going anywhere," she continued. "Support them, support the devs, support the people who lost their jobs and their work to the void.
"I hope something comes out of this, and if it doesn't, at least we tried, right?"
SPREAD THE WORDTHIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING, N7 4 EVER
#SaveMassEffect https://t.co/wMEd7DQF4u
— mer࣪ ִֶָ☾. #SaveMassEffect (@drowwpoison) October 26, 2026
The #SaveMassEffect billboard will be available for New York citizens to see in Times Square all day today. It will appear for 15 seconds every hour at the 35-minute mark on 1560 Broadway just above the Pelé Soccer store.
As the movement takes Mass Effect from the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies and centers it on Midtown Manhattan, calls for EA to reverse course have only grown in size. That's thanks in part to a petition, which, after gaining 50,000 signatures in just a few hours, as ballooned to include 220,000 names. That includes support from game developers, Destiny fans, and even Commander Shepard actors Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer, with many others calling for fans to boycott EA-made titles.
After the Mass Effect trilogy altered the course of RPG gaming in the 2000s and early 2010s, the series came to an end with Mass Effect: Andromeda in 2017. BioWare continued to work on a follow-up for the franchise, working under the title Mass Effect: Universe, for years before it, too, was canceled last week.
There has, at least, been plenty to think about in the aftermath of the studio's demise. Early details revealed "Hitman-style freedom" before a former developer on the project promised a story that took previous player choices into account.
Image courtesy of Kala Elizabeth/@kalaelizabeth on X/Twitter.
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