EA and BioWare ‘Remain Committed’ To Next Mass Effect Game — And Yes, Romances Will Return

Mass Effect developer BioWare has reaffirmed its commitment to making the series’ next game, just weeks after publisher EA agreed a $55 billion deal to go private.

In a blog posted today to mark the Mass Effect franchise’s annual N7 Day celebrations, franchise boss Mike Gamble said he wanted to set “the record straight” after all the “rumors lately.”

“Let’s start by setting the record straight: the next Mass Effect game is in development, and EA and BioWare remain committed to telling more stories in this universe,” Gamble wrote.

Fans had questioned whether EA would remain committed to Mass Effect — and BioWare in general — following the completion of its enormous deal, and after a lackluster response to the studio’s previous game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Today’s statement is clearly meant to calm fan concerns — though actual new information on the next Mass Effect game remains scarce.

“The truth is, the last few years have been an incredibly busy time at BioWare,” Gamble continued today. “But currently, the team is heads-down and focused exclusively on Mass Effect. We have a lot of universe to cover, lots of features to build, and lots of romances to figure out.”

Yes, while it’s not a surprise, fans at least now have solid confirmation that you will be able to romance more sci-fi characters, head tendrils and all.

“We’re excited by what we’re building, and we promise you: when we’re ready, it’ll be a lot of fun to show,” Gamble concluded. “Until then, thank you for your patience because y’all are thirsty for news and I see you looking for secret meaning in my tweets (okay, sometimes they have secret meaning).”

It’s worth noting that numerous letters of the above text are italicised in BioWare’s original blog post, which when put together spell out the words “url krogan.” Is there some fresh new krogan lore sitting hidden somewhere on the BioWare blog for fans to find? We are scouring the site now to find out.

Other celebrations today will include new Mass Effect gear to buy, and free crossover items within both Apex Legends and Skate (which should hopefully avoid the criticism of Skate’s recent and rather pricey Dead Space crossover).

Finally, in other Mass Effect news, BioWare today confirmed that Amazon’s upcoming TV adaptation would feature a new story set after the events of the series’ original trilogy — rather than rehashing Commander Shepard’s adventures, as seen in the series’ original trilogy. It’s a canny move which avoids contradicting players’ own stories — and something that could potentially see the TV show tying into the next Mass Effect game, which fans believe will be set hundreds of years after Mass Effect 3’s endings.

“For everyone yelling at me because we didn’t use N7 Day to provide a whole bunch of info… I mean, I get it,” Gamble subsequently posted on social media. “I’m a fan too. I want you to see stuff. But it’s not the time… yet. Has it been years since announce? Yes. Have we been busy? Yes. Are we NOW 100% on Mass Effect? Also yes.”

BioWare first confirmed it would develop another Mass Effect game back in 2020, via a cinematic trailer that showed a return for fan-favorite character Liara, now sporting an older look. Subsequent years have seen the studio tease out a handful of further Easter eggs pointing to the state of the galaxy, many years on — but clearly the project remains some way off from actually releasing.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social