Mass Effect 5 Gets Big Development Update

Mass Effect 5 is BioWare’s next big focus, but the studio is making some changes as production ramps up. BioWare is one of the most coveted video game developers out there thanks to its long history of delivering top-tier RPGs across the Dragon Age series, Mass Effect, and of course, its work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. They are responsible for creating some of the richest stories in gaming with choices that can have long lasting ramifications that ripple across multiple games. Very few studios operate at the level that BioWare does and it’s partially why EA has allowed the team so many cracks at multiple massive projects that took the better part of a decade.

Sadly, a lot of these recent projects have fallen flat. The last truly beloved BioWare game was Dragon Age: Inquisition back in 2014, but it was also likely so appreciated because it came out in a year where there weren’t as many major video game releases as the new generation was just beginning at the time. That’s not to diminish its quality, it was still great. However, the next three games BioWare released would begin to make people wonder if the EA-owned studio still had the juice. Mass Effect: Andromeda was okay, but it had a rough launch and was a far cry from the acclaimed original trilogy. Anthem was a live-service disaster that tanked almost immediately. And Dragon Age: The Veilguard was a long-awaited RPG that didn’t meet expectations for a lot of people and was a commercial disappointment.

Mass Effect 5 Is BioWare’s “Full Focus”

With all that said, many have feared what’s next for BioWare. Thankfully, the studio will remain intact and work begins on Mass Effect 5, a game that was announced a few years ago with nothing more than a teaser trailer. Nothing is really known about the game, but BioWare has confirmed its the studio’s next game and is their one and only priority, so no need to worry about the studio juggling multiple projects. EA told IGN that BioWare’s full focus is on the next Mass Effect game, but IGN reports that BioWare will do so with a smaller team.

“The studio’s priority was Dragon Age. During this time there were people continuing to build the vision for the next Mass Effect. Now that The Veilguard has shipped, the studio’s full focus is Mass Effect. While we’re not sharing numbers, the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development.”

BioWare employees are being shuffled around to other EA projects or are having their roles outright terminated. BioWare general manager Gary McKay noted that Mass Effect 5 does not “require support from the full studio” at this time. The game hasn’t even officially entered full production yet, so it’s likely a lot of people would be without any meaningful work for at least a number of months, if not a full year while development ramps up. It’s likely BioWare will look to bring back some of these other team members working on other EA projects when the time is right and hire where needed.

However, Mass Effect 5 likely won’t see the light of day for a number of years. Dragon Age: The Veilguard took about eight years to make, but it also had a tumultuous development where it changed quite a bit throughout the years. With that said, Mass Effect 5 may not take quite as long as that, so long as the vision remains the same throughout development or doesn’t require dramatic overhauls. Nevertheless, a lot is riding on this new Mass Effect game and one has to hope BioWare sticks the landing or it could mean trouble for the future of a once great studio.