IF Mass Effect truly is dead, will/should EA/Bioware even announce this?

Depending on the side of the fence you stand, either you believe the Kotaku investigative journalism article that EA put the ME brand of ice and split up the Montreal studio to work on other projects or you believe the Kotaku article is just clickbait and that the ME brand is alive and well and very vibrant and EA is very enthusiastic about continuing to create ME games starting with MEA DLC and soon MEA2 and using DA2 as a case study on how a game that was received poorly, still saw DLC and even a sequel. Others are standing in the middle and not quite sure what to make of the silence from EA regarding the future of MEA. Focusing on that last sentence, a lot of the people who believe that EA is still interested in supporting more ME games likes to point to the fact that both EA and Bioware has not officially came out to confirm (or deny) that Mass Effect is put on ice due to the poor reception that MEA took along with the lower than expected review scores. However, if we try to wait for EA to confirm this, are we just waiting for something that will never come?

Think about it, publishers and developers, especially ones as large as Electronic Arts and Bioware rarely ever come out to explicitly say that a particular game or brand is dead. You may hear that a game that is in development is now cancelled like Star Wars 1313, or that a particular studio is now shut down like Pandemic, but you never hear that a game or franchise is dead and that there will not longer be any sequels due to poor review scores or financials. I mean, why would they? To me it seems so much more logical to just let a brand quietly die rather than make an announcement that a brand is dead which isn't good PR. Even today, Bioware has never officially said that there will not be a Jade Empire 2 or KOTOR 3. They may beat around the bush and say stuff like, "we are always exploring options...." or something more like, "we understand the commitment fans have towards [insert game] and we at [insert studio] are always looking at ways we can offer exciting and fresh stories and experiences to our consumers...." or something like that. Studios would kind of try to hint at they are wanting to move forward, but yet they never officially close the door on the possibility that a certain game can receive a sequel because they do not want to upset their fanbase by saying a game will not get a sequel. Imagine the fallout if EA/Bioware announced that there will not be DLC for MEA and there will not be a MEA2. One one side you will have supporters of MEA raged at Bioware for not continuing the story and for falling victim to internet memes made by people who want to take down the brand and how they just gave up. Then on the other side you would probably see a huge celebration and a resurgence of more memes about MEA and how it was a failure and what not.  Either way, it would be a PR nightmare no matter what side you look on. Again, just look at KOTOR 3 and Jade Empire 2. For the most part, we are not getting these games, but because Bioware or EA has not confirmed this, that hope remains open, even after over a decade that the last game was released.  Even Saren in Mass Effect 1 mentioned something about us humans being emotional rather than logical and that we will fight even though we know we cannot win. I want a KOTOR 3 with Anthem-style graphics but I know I will not get it.....but because Bioware or EA has never explicitly said there will not be a KOTOR 3, like Jim Carey in Dumb n Dumber, that thin line of hope still remains there.....so you're telling me there is a chance. 

Going back to the future of Mass Effect Andromeda or the Mass Effect brand as a whole, do you think that EA/Bioware will actually announce that it is indeed dead? Or will Mass Effect (assuming it is put on ice) enter into the same closet as KOTOR 3 and Jade Empire 2 where it is obvious that Bioware is moving on, but because they never officially announced that MEA is put on ice, many people still use that as proof that DLC is incoming or that a sequel is coming.

So what are your thoughts? Do you think this is something EA/Bioware should announce? I mean, what do they have to gain if they did? It could do more harm than good as MEA is really toxic right now in the media and announcing that the brand is dead will just be adding fuel to a fire that is already out of control going all the way back to the ME3 ending debacle. Or would it make more sense for them to just not confirm or deny anything and assuming the brand is dead, just let it die a quiet death and hope that games like Anthem and DA4 are enough to change the subject along with a possible announcement of yet another new IP lead by the Montreal team.


Disclaimer: This thread is NOT a debate on if MEA is dead or not, we can discuss that in other threads. This thread is purely about how EA/Bioware should handle the brand in the even that it is dead. Please keep any replies related to that and not turn it into a MEA is alive vs MEA is dead debate.