BioWare’s Anthem is rumored to be undergoing revamp which will see it being renamed to Anthem Next. However, while BioWare Austin is busy with that and BioWare Edmonton works on Dragon Age 4, it seems new Mass Effect is in “very early development”. This is according to a report from Kotaku’s Jason Schreier (who outlined the numerous problems that Anthem had in development earlier this year).
The news is particularly interesting because Mike Gamble, who’s worked on Anthem as a producer, will be directing the game. It’s being developed at BioWare Edmonton and given that it’s “very early” on, we can assume that it’s still in the pre-production stages. Once BioWare wraps up work on Dragon Age 4 – which might be releasing after fiscal year 2022 – it could transition more of its team members and ramp up production full-time.
BioWare’s Mass Effect series saw a significant dip with the launch of Mass Effect: Andromeda. Animation glitches dominated forums worldwide but the game was also significantly criticized for its story-telling, direction and numerous bugs and issues. Despite the franchise reportedly being put on ice, BioWare has been teasing “so many stories yet to tell”. Hopefully the development process will be smoother than Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem.