A trailer for Mass Effect 5 meant for internal purposes at BioWare has leaked online, offering a glimpse at what might have been.
The trailer, which IGN has verified as legitimate, was created for internal purposes only and was not meant for the public. It appeared on Reddit just a day after EA’s shock cancelation of the game and its developer, BioWare. It includes the title ‘Mass Effect: Universe.’
The trailer begins with a message: “The following is in-engine footage from our small team. It uses our pre-production assets.”
The trailer has a number of familiar elements, including weaponry, powers, and alien species we’ve seen in previous Mass Effect games. There’s a glimpse at a sex scene, a Mass Effect relay, space travel, and a nightclub, all Mass Effect staples. There’s even a galaxy map on display inside your ship.
It looks like players would have assumed the role of a former military operative now in a “new line of work.” The job is to stop fires before they start. An older Liara T’Soni appears, helping the player character out in a bar fight.
BioWare had spent the past half a decade teasing the next Mass Effect’s setting and story. We’d had it confirmed that Mass Effect 5 would have been set hundreds of years after Mass Effect 3, and feature a narrative that re-centers the action on the franchise’s original Milky Way setting, long after the Reapers were defeated.
Since yesterday’s dramatic news, a number of people who had worked on Mass Effect 5 talked in vague terms about the game it was shaping up to be. On X / Twitter, New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente responded to a user who said, “A game industry that cannot figure out how to make a sequel to the literal best game of all time is a game industry that is fundamentally broken,” with: “We did figure it out. We were working on a great game. Just saying.”
One person who was laid off from BioWare, cinematic supervisor Tony de Waal, took to LinkedIn to say Mass Effect 5 would have been “something special,” offering players “a level of autonomy and choice that no other game has been able to match.”
“We saw what Larian and CD Projekt were bringing to the table with their latest offerings, and started down a path to bring Mass Effect to the next level while remaining true to the Trilogy,” he continued.
“I’m sad you won’t ever get to see what we were cooking, and sad for the small, talented group of devs who were all punching above their weight to make something special. Please consider those who stayed with BioWare until the very end. They are truly some of the most talented people I’ve had the pleasure of working with throughout my career.”
Earlier today, IGN reported that a Mass Effect 5 trailer was ready to go before EA canceled the game and shut BioWare down. This was first mentioned in a post on the subreddit for Austin, Texas, where BioWare had a studio. An alleged EA worker spoke of “a trailer ready for Mass Effect 5 that I saw a few months ago, so I’m puzzled as to how ‘early’ they were.”
This is in reference to EA’s solitary paragraph on BioWare’s closure and the cancelation of Mass Effect 5 in the memo Cam Weber, president and chief studios officer, and David Tinson, president and COO, sent to staff on Wednesday:
“As we focus on these larger opportunities, we’ve had a small team at BioWare working on early-development for Mass Effect. We’ve made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace. BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly.”
The mention of the next Mass Effect being in “early development” shocked some fans, given the game was announced at The Game Awards in December 2020. At the time, BioWare said the project was in “early production.”
According to Bloomberg, BioWare had around 50 staff working on Mass Effect 5 when EA closed the studio, which comes after 2024’s launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet EA’s sales expectations. 400 jobs will reportedly go in total across EA, amounting to 3% of total staff.
BioWare’s Austin studio reportedly remains open, working to support various EA games in development. IGN has asked EA for comment.
The end of Mass Effect and BioWare comes just weeks before the annual N7 Day, set for November 7. Less than 12 months ago, Mike Gamble, executive producer of Mass Effect at BioWare, celebrated N7 Day to say the next Mass Effect game was still in development, to express excitement about the Amazon TV series (which IGN understands is currently still in the works), and to insist EA and BioWare “remain committed to telling more stories in this universe.”
Fans had hoped to see more of Mass Effect 5 on N7 Day next month, but it now seems likely to pass without fanfare. “You made me laugh. Thank you,” Gamble replied to one X / Twitter user who wondered what might be announced on N7 Day next month.
We have much more on the dramatic news of BioWare’s closure, including reaction from fans and the video game industry, IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey on why BioWare was the greatest RPG developer ever, and the thoughts of one former BioWare developer on the possibility of Dragon Age and Mass Effect living on.
Wesley is IGN’s Managing Editor. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
