Mass Effect 5 pre-production is still ongoing, but Bioware says the next entry in the RPG series is already "bringing the deep franchise history forward in a spectacular new way."
This brief status report was actually part of the studio's statement on the future of Star Wars: The Old Republic, the aging MMO which the studio has now confirmed is being passed to developer Broadsword. Bioware reiterated its "renewed focus on our two key franchises: Dragon Age and Mass Effect," and offered a brief update on its goals there.
"For Dragon Age, we continue to build, polish, and tune an exceptional experience we know our fans will love," general manager Gary McKay writes, giving us the first official word on Dragon Age 4, Dreadwolf, since EA's indirect confirmation that it's at least a year away. "We can’t wait to share more on this soon."
- Mass Effect 5 is "still in pre-production" says director as BioWare shifts full focus to the sci-fi RPG amid dev reshuffles and reported layoffs
- Mass Effect 5 is BioWare's only big project after Dragon Age: The Veilguard, studio veteran predicts, but "isn't ready to suddenly have a team of 250, 300 people"
"For Mass Effect, we continue pre-production with a core team of veteran storytellers who are bringing the deep franchise history forward in a spectacular new way," McKay adds.
We heard similar assurances back in November 2022, with a blog post from EA telling fans that "pre-production development has been proceeding very well." Just one month earlier, McKay explained that the team was still "envisioning what the future holds for a new single-player Mass Effect game."
McKay's new comments on a fresh approach to the lore or history of the franchise do raise an eyebrow, though for now we can only speculate as to how Mass Effect 5 may apply or explore the rich universe differently.
We haven't properly seen Mass Effect 5 since a batch of artwork revealed for N7 2022, which quickly divided fans looking to interpret things.
