A Mass Effect 5 trailer was reportedly ready to go before EA canceled the game and shut BioWare down.
This was mentioned in a post on the subreddit for Austin, Texas, where BioWare had a studio. An alleged EA worker said “a trailer ready for Mass Effect 5 that I saw a few months ago, so I’m puzzled as to how ‘early’ they were.” IGN understands there was indeed a Mass Effect 5 trailer ready for release.
This is in reference to EA’s solitary paragraph on BioWare’s closure and the cancelation of Mass Effect 5 in the memo Cam Weber, president and chief studios officer, and David Tinson, president and COO, sent to staff on Wednesday:
“As we focus on these larger opportunities, we've had a small team at BioWare working on early-development for Mass Effect. We've made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace. BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly.”
The mention of the next Mass Effect being in “early development” has shocked some fans, given the game was announced at The Game Awards in December 2020. At the time, BioWare said the project was in “early production.” Six years later, Mass Effect is no more.
According to Bloomberg, BioWare had around 50 staff working on Mass Effect 5 when EA closed the studio, which comes after 2024’s launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet EA’s sales expectations. 400 jobs will reportedly go in total across EA, amounting to 3% of total staff.
BioWare’s Austin studio reportedly remains open, working to support various EA games in development. IGN has asked EA for comment.
The end of Mass Effect and BioWare comes just weeks before the annual N7 Day, set for November 7. Less than 12 months ago, Mike Gamble, executive producer of Mass Effect at BioWare, celebrated N7 Day to say the next Mass Effect game was still in development, to express excitement about the Amazon TV series (which IGN understands is currently still in the works), and to insist EA and BioWare "remain committed to telling more stories in this universe."
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/mass-effect-5-trailer-reportedly-ready-to-go-before-bioware-closure
