Bioware recently celebrated N7 Day, which is dedicated to Mass Effect, and released a tribute video about the franchise in the process. The sci-fi action RPG is celebrated ten years on November 7th and the video itself features a number of development team members and fans discussing their love of the franchise.

Mass Effect has had a rather difficult year. Mass Effect: Andromeda launched with numerous problems and issues, dividing many a critic on its story-telling, gameplay and overall direction. The multiplayer faced a number of issues as well with balance changes, microtransactions, variant controversies and what have you. The franchise itself was put on ice and Bioware Montreal quietly downsized, scuttling any hopes of single-player DLC in the future.

Interestingly, the video states at one point that the “future of Mass Effect…is very bright”. What could that mean? We have no idea but it’s good to see that Mass Effect as a whole has had plenty of influence on players. Check out the video below and let us know what you think.

The future of Mass Effect grows ever more uncertain, especially after the negative reception and the critical underperformance of Mass Effect Andromeda, and especially after news of yesterday’s merger of studio Bioware Montreal with Motive Studios. However, for now, it looks like post launch support of the famously buggy game will continue, with Update 1.10 for the game now available to download.

This update is focused entirely and squarely on the game’s multiplayer mode, which has unexpectedly proven to be one of the more popular aspects of the controversial title. The update addresses some bugs and glitches prevalent in the multiplayer mode, as well as making some balance tweaks and mechanical changes.

The full, rather substantial, list of the changes that this update brings to the multiplayer mode of the game can be seen below, in the patch notes. Mass Effect Andromeda is available now on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

• Veteran ranks of characters will only drop after all characters of that rarity have been unlocked to rank 10.
• Naladen explosion now deals damage when Cryo or Incendiary Ammo are equipped.
• Fixed issue where Dwindling Supplies and Empty Resupply mission modifiers would not function correctly if a player left the game.
• Dhan shotgun now properly primes enemies.
• Fixed issue where Bulwark, Siphon, and Concussive variants of pistols and sniper rifles would prime enemies too slowly when using special ammo.
• Fixed issue where using Supply Pack Transmitter would reduce spare ammo if Empty Resupply mission modifier was active.
• Using First Aid with Supply Pack Transmitter no longer heals enemies.
• Fixed issue that caused screen to blink red/yellow when using Siphon and Bulwark weapons.
• Rank XIV Common Characters are no longer displayed as Rank XV

After the failure of Mass Effect Andromeda, there were a lot of reports and rumors on the ultimate fate of Bioware Montreal, the studio behind its development, as well as on the fate of Mass Effect Andromeda itself. It seems as though those rumors may have had at least a grain of truth to them, because today, EA announced that Bioware Montreal will be merging with Motive Studios, the studio currently working with DICE on the single player campaign of this year’s upcoming StarWars Battlefront 2.

“The teams in EA Worldwide Studios are packed with talent, and more than ever, we’re driving collaboration between studios on key projects. With multiple major projects in development in Montreal, we are merging BioWare Montreal with Motive Studios. This is an ongoing process, but there are many exciting roles and opportunities for everyone on the team,” an EA spokesperson said to Tech Raptor in a statement.

This seems to lend credence to speculation that Bioware Montreal has been scaled back, and that the future of the Mass Effect franchise is in jeopardy after the underwhelming performance of Andromeda– though obviously, it does not act as a confirmation whatsoever. That said, it is very clear now that Andromeda underperformed even by EA’s internal projections. What this means for the future of the franchise is something that remains to be seen.

Though publisher Electronic Arts has stated how happy it is with Bioware Montreal, the studio that developed Mass Effect: Andromeda, resources from the studio have been shifted elsewhere since launch.

According to Kotaku’s Jason Schreier who cited different sources close to the company, Mass Effect is currently on hiatus. Bioware Montreal employees were shifted to EA Motive to work on Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Bioware’s new IP (which has since been delayed). The main developer is now support-oriented and is focused on patching Mass Effect: Andromeda’s multiplayer.

It’s interesting to note that Bioware in Edmonton is currently responsible for the new IP, codenamed Dylan, with Bioware Austin assisting. When contacted for comment, BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy said, “Our teams at BioWare and across EA put in tremendous effort bringing Mass Effect Andromeda to players around the world. Even as BioWare continues to focus on the Mass Effect Andromeda community and live service, we are constantly looking at how we’re prepared for the next experiences we will create.

“The teams in EA Worldwide Studios are packed with talent, and more than ever, we are driving collaboration between studios on key projects. With our BioWare and Motive teams sharing studio space in Montreal, we have BioWare team members joining Motive projects that are underway. We’re also ramping up teams on other BioWare projects in development. There will be much more to come from BioWare in the years ahead.”

However, for the time being, Mass Effect will not be one of those things. Employees shifts, especially between studios, is a given under larger publishers but what are your thoughts on the franchise apparently being on ice? Let us know below.

Christopher Schlerf, a writer for Bioware’s Mass Effect: Andromeda and lead writer for Halo 4, has left the studio to join Bungie.

Responding on Twitter, Schlerf said that, “To confirm what some folks asked about a few months back, I am no longer working on ME:A at BioWare Montreal.”

There’s no ill-will though. Schlerf recounts his time working at Bioware as “Sincerely one of the best experiences of my career-I’m incredibly grateful to have worked w/ such talented & truly wonderful human beings.”

He also believes that Mass Effect: Andromeda, slated to release this Holiday season for current gen platforms, “is really gonna blow people away; couldn’t be prouder to be part of it, & excited like a lil kid to play the final when it’s out.”

Schlerf concluded by announcing his joining Bungie. “All that said, very happy to be back in Seattle, working with this scrappy little company called Bungie that some of you may have heard of.”

His role on Destiny’s future narrative seems to be have been confirmed as well. “Think we might have some interesting stories to tell…”

Will that affect the upcoming expansion later this year? Or the new content update in Spring? We’ll find out in the coming months so stay tuned.

Though rumours have been circulating that the next game in the franchise will have a subtitle with it, Bioware has confirmed that Mass Effect 4 doesn’t have an official name yet.

After rumours said that the next game – developed on Frostbite 3 and releasing for next gen consoles – would be called Mass Effect: Contact, Bioware Montreal studio director Yanick Roy stated on Twitter that, “WRT [With regard to] name speculations: the next Mass Effect doesn’t have a name yet, just a working title that we have used since day 1 of the project.”

And that working title is likely to not be the final name. So if the game has indeed been referred to as “Contact”, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be officially revealed under the same name.

Then again, maybe it could. But it’s not a common practice in the gaming industry.

As of now, Mass Effect 4 is slated to be revealed at E3 2014. Are you looking forward to it? Let us know in the comments.

Bioware might be re-releasing the Mass Effect Trilogy for Xbox One and PS4 in the coming year but what has us most interested is Mass Effect 4, the Frostbite 3-powered successor to the breakout action RPG. There’s not much we know about the game at this point other than bits and snippets revealed by the developer.

In a new tweet, Bioware Montreal studio director Yanick Roy answered a query about conflict reports which said the sequel was either in the early stages or in the later stages of development. “Too late for one, too early for the other… So I guess we’re somewhere in the middle?”

Regardless of where they are, Mass Effect 4 will still take a good 1.5 to 2 years to release if Bioware properly announces it at E3. The only thing we know about the game is that it will feature some new gameplay elements (but in a similar tone to the previous games) and won’t have Shepard returning. Stay tuned for more.

According to Bioware Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn on Twitter, Mass Effect 4 is currently in a playable state. Flynn stated that he had a “Great time playing the next Mass Effect game in Montreal. Ambitious. Beautiful. Fresh but recognizable. And fun.”

Mass Effect 4 is being developed on the Frostbite 3 engine, the same next-generation engine currently powering the majority of EA’s action titles including Battlefield 4, Star Wars: Battlefront, Mirror’s Edge and more. It will also be a fresh new take on the franchise, moving away from the initial trilogy that focused on Commander Shepard and his battle with the Reapers.

If the game is currently playable, how long before we get official word on the game, much less a reveal trailer? It may still be another year till anything resembling gameplay footage gets out but for now, development is progressing smoothly. Stay tuned for more news and details in the coming months.

Studio director for Bioware Montreal Yanick Roy answered questions on Twitter regarding the next game in the sci-fi action RPG series – which is currently untitled but confirmed to not be featuring Commander Shepard. When asked if there would be a Mass Effect: Genesis system to assist newcomers to the series, Roy replied that:

@simonjthomas Too soon to say, but we'll be sure to be friendly both to old fans and to newcomers.

— Yanick Roy (@YanickRRoy) July 16, 2013

He also stated that Bioware will be looking to improve character animations this time around.

@shinobi602 It's one of the things we would like to improve, yes

— Yanick Roy (@YanickRRoy) July 10, 2013

Roy also added that, for now, in regards to GLBTI-inclusive and gender options for the main character that:

@AC_E There is no reason to believe otherwise at this point, don't worry! 🙂

— Yanick Roy (@YanickRRoy) July 9, 2013

As of now, there is no release date set for the next Mass Effect but it be using DICE’s Frostbite 3 engine.

This BF4 gameplay video is spectacular, and a great way to see what the engine of the next Mass Effect is capable of! battlefield.com

— Yanick Roy (@YanickRRoy) March 27, 2013

Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo pointed out how he thought that Frostbite 2 was being used, which lead to Roy clarifying that he never specified which version was being used.

Then again, we did sort of think that it meant the next iteration of Frostbite. Just that it would be a modified version of Frostbite 2, tentatively referred to as Frostbite 2.5.

Totilo then brought up a link from EA PR itself which said that Frostbite 2 was being used. Roy’s response?

@stephentotilo LOL! Apparently, we keep secrets even from them! 😉

— Yanick Roy (@YanickRRoy) March 27, 2013

So there: Let it not be said that game devs can not keep secrets from the world and then successfully gloat about it afterwards.

On the plus side, this means the next generation of Bioware RPGs are going to look better than ever. Thoughts?