A trailer for BioWare’s cancelled Mass Effect game has appeared online, and it’s bound to stir up even more anger at EA.
EA’s decision to close BioWare may have been expected to some extent, following the company’s buyout, but it’s still a tragic loss for the industry.
Beyond people losing their jobs, the closure means the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises are now unlikely to get a new entry. BioWare had been developing a new Mass Effect game for the past six years, having shown off a teaser trailer in December 2020, but it’s not been seen since then.
This project has now been cancelled but a trailer has emerged online in the aftermath, and it’s confirmed to be the real deal.
A trailer under the name Mass Effect Universe first appeared on Reddit, and a disclaimer at the beginning states it is in-engine footage from ‘our small team’ using pre-production assets.
The clip features a new protagonist and returning character Liara T’Soni, who also appeared in the initial teaser trailer. It would have been set in the Milky Way Galaxy (unlike Mass Effect: Andromeda) sometime after the Reaper war from the original Mass Effect trilogy. In other words, it would have been the actual Mass Effect 4.
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While the video’s legitimacy was initially unclear, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier confirmed it is real in a post on Bluesky. ‘Can confirm that this is a real trailer of the Mass Effect game that BioWare was developing up until its closure yesterday,’ he wrote.
For anyone who still lies awake at night thinking about the Krogan rebellions, this footage might make scream into the void over what could have been. However, it’s likely this video has been released by someone internally at BioWare, so this might be a desperate bid to try and save the project – if EA is willing to sell the IP.
However, it seems EA is still interested in holding onto Mass Effect for other projects. According to IGN, the previously announced Mass Effect TV show is still in development at Amazon MGM Studios, despite the studio’s closure.
While it’s unclear if we’ll ever see another Mass Effect game, there are other projects in the works from developers behind the original trilogy. Sci-fi role playing game Exodus is set to launch next year from Archetype Entertainment, a studio founded by former BioWare veterans.
Meanwhile, Star Wars: Fate Of The Old Republic by Arcanaut Studios is being overseen by the original director of both Knights Of The Old Republic and the original Mass Effect trilogy.
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