It may be a long time before we see another entry in Bioware’s Mass Effect series.
A report from Kotaku suggests that the Mass Effect series may be put on hold for some time after the polarizing response towards the series latest title, Mass Effect Andromeda. Though the series will be put on hiatus, Bioware will not be putting an end to the series entirely. According to sources close to the studio, BioWare Montreal, the developers behind Andromeda, will be turned into a support studio. A number of employees from BioWare Montreal were transferred to the EA Motive last month, another studio located in Montreal. The transferred employees are currently working on Star Wars Battlefront II, the remaining BioWare Montreal members will help support BioWare’s other games, including a new intellectual property, code-named Dylan. BioWare Montreal will also continue to patch and support Mass Effect Andromeda’s multiplayer.
Mass Effect Andromeda released in March of this year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. It is the fourth entry in the Mass Effect series and serves as a new beginning for those unfamiliar with series. Like previous titles, Mass Effect Andromeda is a third person action RPG with a heavy emphasis on world exploration and character development. This was the first title developed by BioWare Montreal, unfortunately suffering a number of technical challenges and scope changes late into development. The game first released to mixed reception from both fans and critics. Character animation flaws became the main issue among players. BioWare staff responded to the complaints, originally stating that there were no plans to update character models. A patch was put out in April to fix the discovered flaws, improving on certain cutscenes.
BioWare’s studio main studio is currently in Edmonton, working on Dylan along with BioWare’s other studio in Austin.