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1,662 Canadians have been verified as signing it thus far
Calls for the Canadian government to help ressurect recently shuttered RPG makers BioWare have progressed from a single post by a politician to a petition with enough signatures that it looks set to be presented to the Canadian House of Commons for an official response. So far, 1,662 people from the country of maple syrup and also other things have signed this call for their leaders to consider stepping in.
"BioWare is one of Canada's most important cultural exports to the world in the 21st century, selling tens of millions of units of their video games globally," declares the petition, started by Brendan Routh and authorised by Vancouver Kingsway MP Don Davies.
"BioWare's productions champion the values of inclusivity, tolerance, democracy, justice, and civil rights that are at the centre of Canada's national identity," its run of bullet points continues. "BioWare has been shuttered by its American parent company Electronic Arts, now owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners and BioWare's closure represents an immense loss to and possibly a targeted attack on Canada's cultural legacy."
With all of that in mind, the petition calls on the Canadian Government to "provide BioWare with the capital necessary to secure independence of themselves and their intellectual property from Electronic Arts and resume business as an independent, Canadian company". The Canadians who've signed also want their leaders to "protect Canadian businesses and cultural institutions from being dictated by American and foreign corporate interests" and "champion the values of inclusivity, tolerance, democracy, justice, and civil rights at the centre of Canada's national identity by preserving BioWare's invaluable contribution to the global entertainment industry".
Thus far, the petition's amassed 1,662 verified signatures from citizens across Canada, putting it above the 500 verified signature threshold required for it to be presented to the country's House of Commons. That'll be followed by the tabling of an official response from the Canadian government.
As with some of the responses from political bodies the likes of the Stop Killing Games campaign have gotten over the years, I find it hard not to see this petition not being greeted with an answer along the lines of 'We do care about this and thank you for raising it, but we're not really gonna do much here'. I think a full BioWare resurrection with government backing is highly unlikely, but finding some way to enshrine the studio's legacy or contribution to Canada's games industry and arts culture seems a lot more easily doable.
A big statue of Blokeshep and Femshep surrounded by their crew of potential allies somewhere in Edmonton, maybe. Or a big stone middle finger that's always required to be aimed at a poster for the next Star Wars film/game/TV show/bit of merch.
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