Gamers looking forward to the next Mass Effect title might have to wait for a while, as developer BioWare has placed the franchise on hiatus.
The move comes a couple of months after the release of the polarizing Mass Effect: Andromeda, the latest entry in the series that drew mixed reviews. While praised for its gameplay and combat mechanics, the game fell short in crafting a story that will keep players hooked to the Mass Effect franchise.
'Mass Effect' On Hold As BioWare Montreal Scales Down
Sources familiar with the matter revealed to Kotaku that BioWare has placed Mass Effect on hiatus, with its developer, BioWare Montreal, transformed into a support studio.
Instead of allocating staff to immediately work on the next Mass Effect game, some employees of BioWare Montreal were transferred to EA Motive, also in Montreal, to help out with Star Wars: Battlefront II. The game, in partnership with DICE, falls under the same third-person space shooter genre as Mass Effect: Andromeda, so BioWare Montreal employees will be well-suited to assist in its development.
Employees who remained with BioWare Montreal will either continue support for the multiplayer mode of Mass Effect: Andromeda or help out with the studio's other projects.
Among the new projects of BioWare is a new intellectual property that bears the codename Dylan. The main studio of BioWare, located in Edmonton, is leading the project, with BioWare Montreal and BioWare Austin now helping out with its development. Dylan is expected to be unveiled at the upcoming E3.
BioWare Montreal was founded in 2009 to assist with the development of DLC for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect: Andromeda was the first game that the studio headed, taking over from BioWare Edmonton, which led the development of the first three Mass Effect titles.
Has 'Mass Effect' Come To An End?
BioWare's decision to freeze Mass Effect for now does not necessarily mean that the franchise is dead. It is very unlikely that the developer will kill off the popular series, even when considering the many criticisms against Mass Effect: Andromeda.
According to sources, a significant scope change made late in the process and technological challenges resulted in complications for the development of Mass Effect: Andromeda, which was released in March for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
One of the most prominent issues that gamers experienced with the title are the awkward facial animations. The criticism even led to harassment against the woman who was identified to have worked on Mass Effect: Andromeda's facial animations, before the problem was eventually fixed in a patch.
Lead designer Ian Frazier later admitted that it was difficult to accept all the criticism that was launched against the game but noted that getting feedback from players is important to make improvements to Mass Effect: Andromeda.
"There will be much more to come from BioWare in the years ahead," said BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy in a statement. This means that there will likely be more Mass Effect games in the future, but for now, the developer is focusing on other projects.
