Mass Effect Legendary Edition Won't Change the Ending of the Trilogy

Ever since it first released back in 2012, the ending of Mass Effect 3 has been controversial, to say the least. In fact, it proved to be so divisive at the time that developer BioWare ended up later releasing a slate of DLC called the "Extended Cut" to tweak its conclusion just a bit. Now, with the studio returning Mass Effect 3 all these years later via the new Legendary Edition, some fans have wondered whether or not BioWare would try to rectify the ending even further. Based on what we have been told, this won't be the case.

In a new conversation with members of the BioWare team, we inquired about the ending of Mass Effect 3 and whether or not it would receive any further alterations in this collection. BioWare's Mac Walters, the Project Director of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, said that the Extended Cut is the sole offering available when it comes to Mass Effect 3 and that no further changes have been made to it. Walters went on to explain that the Extended Cut already represents the adjustments that BioWare wanted to make with the ending back when the expansion first arrived nearly nine years ago.

"You finish a game and there's things that you wish you had been able to do or things that you wanted to add on," Walters explained. "To me, the Extended Cut was really that opportunity for us to add a little bit more love and a little bit more context around the endings. So to me, that is part of the canon."

While this isn't exactly shocking, it is interesting to know about, especially with BioWare's next Mass Effect project being in development. Based on the teaser trailer that we saw of the next installment in the franchise, it looks as though it could tie into the final events of Mass Effect 3 in a major way. As such, it stood to reason that BioWare might look to tweak the ending of ME3 even further here in the Legendary Edition if it could help segue into the next game that much more easily. But alas, it seems the studio is perfectly fine with the Extended Cut being the game's true ending in perpetuity.

If you didn't see the news already, Mass Effect Legendary Edition is set to release later this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on May 14, 2021. In addition, it will be forward compatible on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S as well. If you'd like to get a look at the game's debut trailer and initial screenshots, you can head right here to check everything out.

Would you have liked it if the ending of Mass Effect 3 had been modified even further here in the Legendary Edition? Let me know your thoughts either down in the comments or over on Twitter at @MooreMan12.