The development of EA and Bioware’s next entry in the Mass Effect series is still in its early stages, as the team is currently focused on other projects.
Former Project Director and Executive Producer at Bioware Mark Darrah posted a new video on his YouTube channel, in which he talked about the development of the next entry in the Mass Effect series. He mentioned that the studio is currently in a “one game to rule them all” phase, as it is operating as a single-project studio for the first time. Having shipped Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the development team’s focus is shifting entirely to Mass Effect. However, Darrah highlighted that the game is not yet ready to scale up to its full development team.
According to Darrah, many developers who worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard are transitioning either to the next Mass Effect title or to other EA projects for the time being, as Mass Effect is not ready to utilize the full team. He mentioned that this presents risks, including the potential difficulty of reclaiming staff from those other projects when the Mass Effect project requires more resources. Projects within EA may be reluctant to release staff, especially if they are integral to ongoing work.
However, Darrah also pointed out that BioWare’s singular focus on the next Mass Effect project could lead to a higher-quality game, as the studio can direct all its attention and resources to the project. This focused approach marks a departure from the studio’s prior practice of juggling multiple projects simultaneously, which often strained resources and leadership.
Going by what Darrah said about the next Mass Effect project currently not being able to utilize the full development team, it’s likely that the game is still in pre-production phase. As such, we probably won’t be getting a glimpse of it anytime soon.
