EA vs. Donald Trump: Publisher removes politician's 'Mass Effect' video
Electronic Arts' "Mass Effect" has been in headlines recently for reasons the gaming community might not have thought it would. The publisher recently took action on a fan-made Donald Trump campaign video that featured music and voiceover from its IP.
Titled "Trump Effect," the video was retweeted by Trump from his official account. This caused the video to go viral and eventually getting the attention of IP owner EA. On the grounds of copyright claims, the publisher caused the YouTube video to be taken down and now Trump's tweet about the video has also been withheld. It's also against company policy to have its assets used for political gain.
"The video was an unauthorized use of our IP," a senior communications representative for EA said in a statement provided to Game Informer. "We do not support our assets being used in political campaigns."
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In 2010, EA released "Mass Effect 2" which featured Martin Sheen's voiceover for the game's antagonist known as the Illusive Man. Parts of Sheen's narration for the character were used in the video. For instance, viewers can hear "we're at war" and the part where the creator puts Trump as "all that stands between humanity and the greatest threat of our brief existence."
Other than EA, game designer Manveer Heir also spoke out against the Trump Effect video. Heir said the use of "Mass Effect" in the video was "gross" and later pointed out that the Illusive Man is actually the bad guy in the game.
"As someone who works on the Mass Effect franchise (who speaks only for myself), this is gross as hell," Heir shared on Twitter.
"I love the idea that Trump may think he's the Illusive Man, who is verifiably the bad guy in the game," he followed up later.
Developer BioWare is currently working on bringing the next entry to the franchise, "Mass Effect: Andromeda," to the market in 2017. The upcoming title's gameplay footage and potential plot spoilers have been recently "leaked."
