Next Mass Effect is Being Built on Unreal Engine 5

Multiple major reports over the last few years have talked about BioWare’s internal development issues and the flawed games they have led to, and unanimously, pretty much all reports have agreed that one of the biggest factors contributing to that has been the engine. BioWare adopted EA’s internal DICE-developed engine Frostbite some time back, but with that engine not really being suited to the development of RPGs, it’s caused more than a few issues.

With the next Mass Effect game, however, it seems like the developer is adopting a different approach. It had been previously reported that BioWare would be building the next game in the sci-fi RPG series on Unreal Engine 5, and that has now been confirmed. BioWare’s Brenon Holmes, who’s serving as producer on the next Mass Effect, recently shared new job listings for openings in the game’s development team at BioWare, and in the process revealed that it’s using Unreal Engine 4/5 for development of the upcoming RPG.

The original Mass Effect trilogy was, of course, built on Unreal Engine 3, though Frostbite has been BioWare’s go-to engine over the last decade. Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and Anthem have each been built on Frostbite, and they’ve all faced numerous development issues as a result. Reportedly, the next Dragon Age is also using Frostbite.

BioWare is hiring talented programmers with UE4/5 experience! Come, join our team and work with us on the next Mass Effect game!https://t.co/6Wr7CpRnh4#BioWare #hiring #UnrealEngine

— Brenon Holmes (@BrenonHolmes) December 17, 2021