It’s a sad day for BioWare and its fans, but a sliver of hope has surfaced. Despite the sudden closure of the Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars: Knights of the Republic studio, the series adaptation of Mass Effect is still moving forward at Amazon-MGM Studios.
The news comes by way of IGN, which writes that sources inside Prime Video have confirmed no change in plans, including all creative staff attached to the project. There have been scarce updates since the last major announcement last August, listing Doug Jung (Mindhunter, Star Trek Beyond) and Daniel Casey (Fast & Furious 9) as showrunner and writer, respectively, with Jessica Jones executive producer Karim Zreik, then-Mass Effect head Mike Gamble, and former Marvel Studios boss Ari Arad rounding out the production team.
It’s unclear whether the show will start filming in the tail end of 2026 as originally intended, and a release date has yet to be determined. Story details remain under wraps, but Gamble previously teased that it won’t retell Commander Shepard’s journey and instead “explore a brand-new story within the universe’s timeline set after the original trilogy.” Casey also shot down previous reports of the studio requesting rewrites to make the Mass Effect series more appealing to a non-gaming audience back in April.
First released in 2007, the sci-fi shooter franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilisations have colonised the galaxy using technology left behind by advanced precursor civilisations. The first three games form a trilogy following the player character, Commander Shepard, who attempts to save the Milky Way galaxy from a race of ancient, hibernating machines known as the Reapers. It received commercial success and acclaim, with the fourth instalment, 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda, featuring a new setting and cast of characters.
A fifth was in active development before the studio shuttered, which would have been set hundreds of years after the events of 2012’s Mass Effect 3 and marked a return to the Milky Way. “For more than 30 years, BioWare has been more than a studio. It has been a home for storytellers, developers, and the players who brought our worlds to life,” said the studio on its social media pages. “Now, after more than three decades of shared adventures, BioWare is closing, and early development on the next Mass Effect project is ending.”
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
