EA’s closure of the legendary studio BioWare has been the topic of the week, stirring up a wealth of emotional reactions from fans, developers, media, and even a few public figures like politicians. Now, it looks like upcoming Mass Effect cosmetics for Battlefield 6 have been pulled entirely from the game.
While Mass Effect has collaborated with Battlefield before, back on October 13, fans discovered that new cosmetics were in the game for the sci-fi series. This included two weapon skins, an N7 decal, and a charm of the Normandy. But at some point since BioWare’s closure, as spotted by fans on Reddit and reported by Kotaku, it seems these cosmetics were ripped from the game entirely. EA has yet to comment on the removal, although Kotaku has reached out for comment.
The most likely scenario here isn’t something nefarious, but more that someone on the Battlefield team had the good sense that putting out a Mass Effect collaboration would look especially ghoulish right now. I say that because EA has, amazingly, already shown that it’s not afraid to reanimate the husk of Mass Effect despite shutting down BioWare. A report shortly after the announced closure and nearly 400 layoffs across the company states that Prime Video’s planned Mass Effect TV series is still in production. A bit of an odd choice considering the new game was scrapped alongside the studio closure.
On that topic, it’s now been confirmed by journalist Jason Schreier that a leaked trailer for “Mass Effect Universe” is indeed real. The trailer popped up on Reddit on Thursday this week and was intended as something for internal use within EA and BioWare, opening with the statement “The following is in-engine footage from our small team. It uses our pre-production assets.” Nonetheless, it’s a pretty staggering look at the vibe and ideas behind the new entry, from the look of the main character to potential party members like a Quarian male, a plot seemingly about a bioengineered Reaper, and more.
Developers on Mass Effect Universe have spoken out since the studio was shut down, calling the game “something special” and essentially BioWare’s response to Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. Tony de Waal, cinematic supervisor at BioWare, said,
“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.”
BioWare’s final game ended up being 2024’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a game that we gave a 10/10 in our review, saying, “BioWare took the time they needed to bring Dragon Age fans the perfect RPG experience. From style to story and everything in between, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is everything I wanted from this entry in the Dragon Age universe.”
