Mass Effect has been a franchise we thought was going to be around forever. But, like Shepard has discovered many times, often at his own peril, life’s short, and things can change at the drop of a hat. It does feel a little unreal that BioWare has been shut down and early development on a new title in the franchise stands cancelled.
Yes, Andromeda struggled to find its footing with a new protagonist and storyline, but with three titles that were so influential in modern gaming, and very solid on the narrative and gameplay fronts as well, didn’t Mass Effect deserve its chance to attempt a come back? Sadly, we’re learning more about that new game through the lens of it being an end rather than a new beginning, with even a trailer for it flying around now.
It’s clear that there’s been a disconnect between its team’s vision for it and the game that EA wanted made to match its business interests. The result is a redemption effort that never could get its wheels off the ground, and has now been shot down in the wake of BioWare’s closure. We’re here to say goodbye and look back at how a franchise with so much potential to be a major presence in the future of gaming has now lost its chance to recover altogether.
Mass Effect, Mass Appeal
Mass Effect’s always been up there with the best in modern gaming over the years, with Shepard’s unique trajectories that are shaped by you over three stories being very interesting romps across the galaxy. Of course, a whole universe with a thriving political scene, multiple factions with often competing interests, and some truly weighty decisions that come with consequences attached are all factors that have established the franchise as one of gaming’s classics, and that’s especially true of the original trilogy.
Shepard’s story, as well as the universe it unfolded in, were then factors that didn’t just garner popularity, but an emotional connection that saw fans craving a return to the franchise, and the room to tell more stories in that universe was evident to anybody familiar with it. The end of Shepard’s journey didn’t necessarily feel like the end of the overarching world he was a part of, and Andromeda came along.
Of course, the shift to Frostbite 3 from UE3 meant that the team behind Andromeda was creating new assets from scratch, along with making them work in a newly created world, while a new protagonist took center stage after leaving Shepard, a character whose customizability and presence across three titles meant a very deep connection, stashed away in the franchise’s history.
A very compressed development window meant that there wasn’t enough time to cook and make Andromeda the game it was perhaps meant to be. The result was a title whose story didn’t quite reach the same highs as the ones before it, while technical issues marred the experience in a game that did bring a lot of good stuff to the table.
We still stand by the combat being expanded to a more mobile, intense loop instead of cover-based mechanics from the trilogy, and Ryder wasn’t too shabby as a new playable lead. But you’ve seen the facial-animation memes, and perhaps even experienced the story for yourselves, and know that it wasn’t enough to measure up to what the franchise had done before. All the great ideas were right there, but Andromeda might have been a different title if it had been allowed to simmer a little bit, or perhaps had its new story and direction fleshed out a little bit.
The end of support for the title post its 1.10 update in August 2017 was then a blow, pushing its newly established storyline outside of the video game format to other media, which matters because Andromeda wasn’t given its chance to recover from a shaky start. That’s something that we now know was going to extend to the franchise itself.
The Writing On The Wall
Could we have predicted the recent chain of events back then? Was the franchise’s fate already sealed before it could get its shot at a comeback? We can’t honestly say we’d have believed you if you told us that we’d be where we are today. The Legendary Edition of Mass Effect is probably what we’d bring up if you asked us why, with EA publicly stating that its sales were above expectations.
That showcased the franchise’s lasting appeal and the potential for a new addition to bring it back to heights it was once capable of. Players hadn’t moved on from it, and even a remaster was enough to push past forecasts, an indicator that it wasn’t just fond nostalgia for a memorable blast from the past, but the existence of a base of hardcore fans wanting more.
And it genuinely looked like a sequel was going to happen. It was revealed in 2020, after all, and Liara appearing in its announcement trailer had us wondering if we were going to return to Shepard, or perhaps see a different corner of the universe through a new set of eyes. BioWare then cut 50 jobs in August 2024, assuring us that Mike Gamble’s team was still engaged in pre-production of the new game.
Another restructuring, this time in January 2025, would see more members of the team move to other EA games, and Gamble would then address concerns about it in November 2025, when we were reassured that it was actively in development. Cut to today, and all we’ve got of the game is the testimony from its makers that it was going to be awesome.
We waited a long time, and with bated breath, but with Dragon Age: The Veilguard not living up to EA’s expectations, with approximately 1.5 million engaged players in its launch quarter not meeting the targets that the company wanted, it seems like BioWare’s effort to revive Mass Effect didn’t align with EA’s risk appetite.
EA’s statement on BioWare’s closure mentioned that it was focusing investment on its biggest opportunities and cutting down on large-scale action-adventure projects in simultaneous development. It continues to back projects like Iron Man and the next Star Wars Jedi game, though.
Why couldn’t Mass Effect make the cut, given that it could have achieved demonstrably good results based on existing results from the Legendary Edition’s release? Why wasn’t its potential ever allowed to truly be a part of its return to the spotlight?
Cinematic Supervisor Tony de Waal, who was among the members of BioWare’s Mass Effect team to be affected by its closure, has pointed to a “level of autonomy and choice that no other game has been able to match” being on board. In a world where The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Baldur’s Gate 3 exist, that’s a bold claim to be making. But consider it against the backdrop of what was already on offer in the franchise, and you begin to see it as a real possibility since de Wall also mentioned Larian and CDPR as inspirations.
Derek Kunsken’s reveal about working on the next Mass Effect as a contract writer before becoming a staffer said that what was in the works with big names like Parrish Ley and Mary DeMarle was “really cool”, and that’s accounting for him still figuring out what he’s allowed to say about the project. Catherynne M. Valente has mentioned more than three years of writing for the game, and has stood by the potential it carried as a beacon for the franchise’s revival.
Dantics, a content creator who claims he was part of BioWare’s Mass Effect Council providing developmental feedback, tells us of a setting that was 600 years after the Reaper War, with strained political relations between humans, krogans, batarians, and a few other species, an alliance of Council species, and the Geth as a major presence.
He spoke of an expanded universe beyond the Milky Way and Andromeda, a new protagonist who seemed partial tos stealth and sabotage, new ability designs, missions, and combat with companions. All of those are logical ways to build on a very familiar franchise formula, and might have managed to make it feel very fresh if the execution was on point.
As an evolving project, this might have been the Mass Effect game that cemented its place in a new era of video games. Alas, we’re here instead.
Saying Goodbye
We’re not in support of the idea that everybody who could have made a great Mass Effect game was already away from BioWare. Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley were still a part of the game’s development as of January 2025, after all, and what we’ve heard about the project signals a game that was taking shape quite well.
Not only that, but it looks like it was building on the original trilogy’s strengths while also being cognizant of what worked in Andromeda and what didn’t. A better summary of the situation would be that there was a talented team in place, but the opportunity to prove itself might have sailed past it thanks to factors outside of its control.
We might never know if what they were working on was a masterpiece in the making, but Casey Hudson’s sadness for both developers and fans showcases a title that could have been one that was made by fans of the franchise for the people who loved it over the years. Heck, EA could still sell the IPs, according to Mark Darrah, and perhaps give another team the chance to bring this game to life. It’s equally possible that Mass Effect remains dormant, fading away into the past as a fond memory.
It’s a franchise whose story rose to great heights, but whose conclusion is one that isn’t rooted in closure, but uncertainty instead. It never got the chance to succeed or fail on the modern stage on its own merits, and that’s a shame given the potential it had to be the franchise’s greatest one yet.
