One day after EA announced it was shutting down Mass Effect developer BioWare, a pretty convincing trailer for what some are alleging was meant to be the now-canceled Mass Effect 5 has begun circulating online. The trailer, which has not been verified as legitimate yet, suggests that the game’s title might have been Mass Effect Universe, and that it might have starred a new hero working alongside original trilogy companion Liara T’Soni.
The trailer begins with a disclaimer that it uses pre-production assets but is in-engine, and shows a man in the same N7 trench coat seen in the previous teasers meeting with an Asari at a bar. The man says he previously was part of the Alliance military, but now is in a “new line of work,” seemingly working off-the-books in some way. We see him do some cool action-movie shit before the Asari threatens him. Then, we see Liara reveal herself and a biotic bar fight ensues. Then, we get the title card: Mass Effect Universe.
This alleged leak follows claims on Reddit from someone purporting to be an EA employee that the team at BioWare had a trailer ready to go. If true and the trailer is legit, it could have premiered on November 7, N7 Day, which BioWare used to celebrate the series every year. I imagine EA wanted to shut down BioWare before this day, as showing off anything new for Mass Effect 5 only to shut the studio down would have been especially cruel and resulted in even greater fan outcry.
We’ve reached out to EA for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
If legit, the trailer might be taken down soon, so watch it while you can:
While this trailer seems to have come from outside of EA’s usual pipeline, some folks who were working on the game have been able to talk publicly about their experience, including writers who seemed to be pretty happy with how the game was coming along.