Mass Effect Might Not Be Out Until 2029

A new release date report pertaining to BioWare's new Mass Effect game reveals it's nowhere near releasing. In fact, it sounds like when it does release, it will not be on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, at least not solely, but on PS6 and the next Xbox. The latest report about the BioWare RPG comes from industry insider and Giant Bomb presenter, Jeff Grubb. According to Grubb, the next Mass Effect game is very far away. More specifically, he speculates that it is not coming until 2029. If this is true, then it will presumably be either a next-gen game or a cross-gen game, as we know from leaked Microsoft documents that the next Xbox is aiming to release in 2028, which is presumably when the PS6 will release as well. 

"You want some original reporting?" said Grubb. "This game is just nowhere near coming out. I was told that when they revealed Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in 2018, this is similar in terms of timeline. That was announced in 2018 and we're not getting that game until maybe next year. So now do the math for that, and we're talking 2029 for Mass Effect 5."

As you can see, this is more speculation than anything, but it's speculation based on information he's heard. The reality is there is no release date or release window for the game yet, even internally, because it's still in pre-production and this won't change until the new Dragon Age game is out. So if there is a release date timeline for the game internally, it's the most vague of vague projections. 

Whatever the case, it's worth noting some of the information Grubb omits here but uses as the foundation for his speculation. Dragon Age: Dreadwolf began development well before 2018, but development was rebooted from scratch in 2018. So if the game releases next year, it will have been a six year development cycle. The new Mass Effect was announced in 2020, but it won't begin production until next year the earliest, which is how he arrives at the rough 2029 release window. Is any of this true though? Well, only time will tell. In the meanwhile, take this information with a grain of salt.