The next cryptic N7 Day teasers that seem to suggest it's still in development, although how far along, nobody outside BioWare knows.
However, Mass Effect 5 got some unequivocally promising news for the first time in a long time today, when a post on the official BioWare blog revealed that several veteran developers will be returning for its next entry. The dev team now includes Mike Gamble, producer of Mass Effect 2, 3, and Andromeda; Preston Watamaniuk, lead designer on every Mass Effect game to date; Derek Watts, art director of the original trilogy; and Parrish Ley, cinematic animator of the original trilogy, along with other familiar faces from throughout BioWare's history.
Veteran Devs Returning To Work On New Mass Effect Game
What BioWare's Blog Post Means For ME5
The blog post goes on to explain that the Mass Effect 5 team is holding itself to high standards, aiming to deliver nothing but the best possible experience to its fans. It also explains that ME5 has reached a stage of development where it no longer needs from the full studio, and has shifted much of its staff to other teams at EA. It ends with a powerful promise: "Today’s news will see BioWare become a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs."
10 Plot Holes Mass Effect 5 Has To Resolve
There are a lot of plot holes that Mass Effect 5 needs to resolve which have yet to be answered by the mainline games or Bioware itself.
This comes on the heels of BioWare's announcement that Dragon Age: The Veilguard updates will cease with the current version, Patch 5. That means that BioWare's top priority (if not sole focus) is Mass Effect 5, and that lack of distractions should benefit its development.
Our Take: BioWare's Changes Should Be Good For ME, Although Uncertain For BioWare
ME Needs A Return To Form, But This Could Be Bad For BioWare
On the one hand, today's news is good news for classic Mass Effect fans, who have historically disliked every attempt by the later series to stray from its established formula. It's true that Mass Effect needs to move on from the Shepard saga, but a common criticism of Andromeda holds that its story recycles much of what made ME1 great, but its gameplay and dialogue writing feel like they've been ripped out of a different series.
Mass Effect 5 needs balance: a return to the nuanced, serious dialogue and strategic gunplay of the original trilogy, with an all-new cast of characters and a unique story that veers off from the Shepard saga even more dramatically than Andromeda did. In that regard, having the project led by a group of series veterans, of the team who had the confidence to put an end to the Shepard saga in the first place, is a wonderful thing.
Mass Effect’s Most Resilient Antagonists Have To Come Back For Mass Effect 5
Mass Effect already has the perfect antagonist to be the main villain of the series moving forward, and the organization needs to make a comeback.
The comment about the restructuring of BioWare's team is concerning, though. It certainly reads like a veiled way of speaking about layoffs. We have no way of knowing how many people at BioWare were impacted, or how many of them were moved to different teams at EA versus laid off completely. EA has declined to comment on layoffs or employee numbers, per IGN, with a spokesperson saying, "While we're not sharing numbers, the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development."
So ultimately, it's tough to tell what this means for Mass Effect's future. It's nice to see the old band back together, for sure, but if others had to be laid off to make that happen, it's not worth the trouble. Ultimately, this is a mixed omen for Mass Effect 5; we won't really know what it means until we learn a little more about what's going on internally at BioWare, or at least what the game will look like.