It’s been a rough year or so for BioWare, with Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperforming so hard it was almost immediately added to PS Plus Essential.
The studio was then downsized – but, crucially, not closed – with its efforts placed on the next Mass Effect. This game was announced all the way back in 2020, but appears to be no closer to release.
You could be forgiven for forgetting that yesterday was N7 Day, then, a historically important date for Mass Effect announcements.
This year all it could really do is insist the new game is still in development, although some fresh artwork has been discovered by fans as part of an ARG.
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Executive producer Mike Gamble said:
“Let’s start by setting the record straight: the next Mass Effect game is in development, and [EA] and BioWare remain committed to telling more stories in this universe. Currently, the team is heads-down and focused exclusively on Mass Effect. We have a lot of universe to cover, lots of features to build, and lots of romances to figure out. We’re excited by what we’re building, and we promise you: when we’re ready, it’ll be a lot of fun to show.”
To be fair, Gamble did squeeze a secret code into his blog post, which was quickly decoded, leading to a page with a single piece of new artwork named ‘Civil War’.
The image (embedded) shows a battle-hardened Krogan fighting alongside his own kind.
We’re not clued up on our Mass Effect lore enough to delve into the specifics of this, although we’re sure the Genophage – the infertility bomb infamously deployed by the Turians and a key plot point in the original trilogy – will somehow factor into what’s going on here.
Maybe we’ll learn more during the new Amazon Prime television series, which Gamble also mentioned in his blog post. It sounds like the script for this is still being written, although it will be set after the first three games. So, there’s that.
And that’s it – your annual Mass Effect update. See you next 7th November, eh?