BioWare Closure Cancels Mass Effect Project After Years of Development

BioWare’s closure has reportedly ended development of an unannounced Mass Effect project that had been in the works for years. Science fiction authors Katherine M. Valente and Derek Kunsken, who worked on the game, confirmed the news in separate social media posts.

“This has been one of the greatest privileges and glorious challenges of my life. I smiled every day. I worked hard every day for my fans,” Valente wrote. Kunsken added, “What we were making was really great.”

Images via Reddit.

EA says the Mass Effect game was still in early development

Despite the existence of a six-year-old teaser, EA executives Cam Weber and David Tinson said in a memo to staff that BioWare had only “a small team working on early development.” The decision not to continue that development contributed to BioWare’s closure.

The memo described BioWare as a “legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre” and said the company did not take the decision lightly.

BioWare had promised more Mass Effect details

In last year’s N7 Day blog post, executive producer Mike Gamble said the team had “a lot of space to cover, a lot of features to build, and a lot of romance to unravel.” He added that BioWare was excited about what it was building and promised to show more when it was ready.

Gamble also reflected on his time at the studio in a social media post: “Your support has meant everything to me over the past 17 years at BioWare.”

Mass Effect TV series remains in development

Although the game project has been canceled, the Mass Effect universe is still reportedly being developed for television. IGN reported, citing sources within Prime Video, that the streaming series remains in active development after it was first announced in 2024.

Fans ask EA to save the Mass Effect game series

Following the cancellation, fans launched an petition calling on EA to continue funding the series or license the intellectual property to an outside studio. The petition had nearly 17,500 signatures at the time of writing.

However, petitioners face an uphill battle in persuading EA’s new private ownership company to prioritize large-scale narrative action RPGs over more lucrative franchises such as Battlefield, The Sims, and annual sports releases.