New "Mass Effect": Bioware employees help out other studios

Bioware is working on a new installment in the "Mass Effect" series. In a blog entry, the studio confirms the development of the new title, which fans can refer to as either "Mass Effect 4" or "Mass Effect 5" – depending on whether the controversial spin-off "Andromeda" is included. However, the blog entry is less about "Mass Effect" itself and more about the studio's working methods and future.

Bioware is a legendary developer of role-playing games and has created "Baldur's Gate" and "Knights of the Old Republic", among others. However, the past decade has been characterized by flops: "Anthem" and the aforementioned "Mass Effect Andromeda" fell miles short of the expectations of fans and investors. The recently released "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" received solid reviews, but only sold half as well as publisher EA had hoped.

Employees are being withdrawn

Bioware is therefore under fire. The blog entry now assures fans that work on "Mass Effect" will continue. However, the studio is to work more dynamically. This means that because "Mass Effect 5" is still at an early stage of development, only a small core team is working on the new sci-fi role-playing game. The remaining Bioware employees are to assist other EA studios in the meantime.

"We are changing the way we develop games to meet the demands of our upcoming projects and hold ourselves to the highest quality standards," writes Bioware manager Gary McKay in the blog entry. "At this stage of development, we don't need the support of the entire studio."

"Mass Effect" still in pre-production

The studio is therefore being restructured – Whether this is only temporary, as suggested in the blog entry, is currently a matter of speculation. However, the change in strategy clearly shows that Bioware no longer enjoys fool's freedom. The suspicion arises that the upcoming "Mass Effect" could be the last chance for the legendary studio to secure its own continued existence.

The update on the Bioware blog also shows that "Mass Effect 5" is currently still in pre-production – although the game was already announced in 2020. Bioware has already scaled back active support for "Dragon Age: The Veilguard": "Now that the game is in a stable state, we are switching to monitoring bugs, if any occur," according to the latest patch notes for the role-playing game. So fans can no longer expect content updates or DLCs.

(dahe)