Mass Effect 5 Still In Production After EA Layoffs

gamerant.com:

The recent layoffs at Electronic Arts may have put the future of some upcoming projects in question, but fans can rest assured that Mass Effect 5 is still being worked on at BioWare. There has been a growing number of layoffs in the gaming industry over the past year or so, with Mass Effect 5 developer BioWare cutting part of the Star Wars: The Old Republic team back in June. This hasn’t slowed down in 2024, with a reported total of over 8,000 job losses in just the past couple of months alone.

Recently, EA was hit with another round of layoffs, this time resulting in nearly 670 people losing their jobs due to cost-cutting measures. This news came just a few days removed from PlayStation laying off about 900 workers, including those at in-house studios like Guerrilla Games, Insomniac, and Naughty Dog. As for EA, its latest staff culling has led to Respawn’s Star Wars FPS being canceled and Battlefield developer Ridgeline Games closing its doors.

Despite these grim developments, many of EA’s planned projects are still being worked on, including Mass Effect 5. According to the same IGN report that revealed the cancelation of Respawn’s FPS Star Wars game, BioWare is still developing the next Mass Effect game, though it is reportedly still in pre-production as of this writing. Additionally, BioWare is focusing its efforts on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf for the time being.

Mass Effect 5 was first announced back in 2020 with a cryptic reveal trailer featuring fan-favorite squadmate Liara T'Soni. In the years to follow, BioWare has been dropping hints about the next Mass Effect game, with recent teasers suggesting that Mass Effect's Geth and Angara races will have a presence and that certain Mass Effect 3 endings could be made official canon after about a decade of fan debate and speculation. There are also rumors that Mass Effect 5 might bring back the classic Paragon/Renegade morality system from the original trilogy after it was eschewed in 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda.

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