The highly-anticipated Mass Effect trilogy could be released as soon as October – but delays caused by COVID-19 may push it back to later in the year.
It's long been rumoured that BioWare was looking to remaster the fan-favourite trilogy for a new generation of consoles and players, and fans are already excited at the news that BioWare is working on a new game from one of its "most prestigious franchises"... even if we don't yet know what franchise that is.
Now, however, a journalist has gone on the record to confirm that publisher EA had planned to release the remaster – which is more likely to be an upgrade rather than a full remake – in October.
"Up until, like, this last week, I know the plan for sure was to announce it in early October, release in later in October. So good news," GamesBeat journalist Jeff Grubb explained on a recent podcast (thanks, VGC). "Maybe bad news - it's 2020 - maybe that could start to slip, it sounds like maybe that's a possibility, nothing for sure yet."
"I know it's real," he added. "I've seen more than enough evidence to know it's real, but it's still 2020 and they haven't announced it yet.
"I think [EA] were planning to have this Mass Effect trilogy be the other big thing [other than Star Wars Squadrons] for $60 this holiday, so that's why I'm still pretty confident it will make it out," Grubb explained. "But with everything else falling apart, like across the board, I could see them also wanting to just delay. But that's not for sure - that's not a guarantee yet - like, that hasn't even been decided yet. It just seems like it's a possibility that's on the table but last I heard, October - October for both."
A new book celebrating the art of the Mass Effect Trilogy is currently up for pre-orders. Called Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy: Expanded Edition, the book is expected to release on February 23, 2021. Curiously, neither developer BioWare nor publisher Electronic Arts have publicised the new art book as yet, and right now it seems only available to US fans.
"Expanded with hundreds of never before seen works of art, this new edition delves deeper than ever into the sci-fi saga that changed video games forever," the listing on Amazon said. "Contains extensive new material from the DLCs for all three games--including the award-winning Lair of the Shadow Broker from Mass Effect 2 and the fan-favorite Citadel from Mass Effect 3.
There's a lot to get excited about in gaming this year. Here are the upcoming games of 2020 we really just can't wait for.
