Those looking forward to the next Mass Effect game — tentatively dubbed Mass Effect 5 by many — have some good news. Dragon Age: The Veilguard released this week, and it has divided opinion. Those enjoying it have a new BioWare RPG to enjoy for the years to come. Those who haven’t enjoyed it or are not interested in even checking it out have years of a painful wait for the next Mass Effect game to endure. Thankfully, the wait won’t be as long as some fans think.
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When BioWare released the last Dragon Age game — Dragon Age: Inquisition — it released three meaty bits of story DLC for the game, which no doubt required considerable development resources. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will not be getting any story DLC though. This means more resources for the next Mass Effect game quicker, which in turn should mean its release date comes quicker.
To this end, Mass Effect: Andromeda, the last Mass Effect game from BioWare took five years to make, however, a bulk of the game was rushed in the final 18 months of development. If this repeats with the new Mass Effect game, it may not be until 2029, at the earliest, that the next Mass Effect releases.
Unfortunately, while no Dragon Age: The Veilguard DLC will help get the next Mass Effect game out faster, it won’t shave much more than a year, max, from development time. To this end, we wouldn’t be surprised if the next Mass Effect game is a PS6 and next Xbox game given that the next-gen consoles are expected to release around 2028.
It is also worth considering BioWare may not even get the chance to release this Mass Effect game. After the disasters that were Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, BioWare can not afford losing money on another game. If Dragon Age: The Veilguard fails to make its money back, there is a reasonable chance the studio will be shuttered, as it will have bled EA millions over the course of the last decade. It is evident by metric so far that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not going to be a smash hit, or even a major hit, but it does look in a position to potentially make its money back, and possibly even some profit. Until this happens though, Mass Effect fans may be a little nervous.
