Leaked Mass Effect: Universe trailer surfaces after BioWare closure

A trailer for BioWare’s next Mass Effect game, titled Mass Effect: Universe, leaked on Reddit one day after EA announced it was closing the studio. Engadget reports that a user claiming to be an EA employee posted it from a burner account, and that Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier separately said on Bluesky that the footage is genuine. Rock Paper Shotgun says IGN also appears to have verified it, while GameSpot notes that BioWare itself has not confirmed it.

What the trailer shows

A message at the start says the footage is in-engine and uses pre-production assets from “our small team.” The trailer then follows a man in an N7 trench coat, presumably the new protagonist, who enters a bar and talks with an asari. He describes his military past and a “new line of work.” According to GameSpot, he says he and his crew “put out fires,” and the asari answers that she prefers starting them.

A fight follows once the protagonist’s crew reveals itself. Engadget and Rock Paper Shotgun both say Liara T’Soni, the asari ally of Commander Shepard from the original trilogy, steps in. GameSpot describes combat against krogan and turian enemies, including anti-gravity effects and gunfire, plus a brief romance scene. It also says the trailer closes on the title and the words “Coming soon.” Rock Paper Shotgun notes that it is unclear whether the name was final or a working title, and that an older Liara raises questions about when the game is set.

The closure behind it

In a staff memo, EA executives Cam Weber and David Tinson said only “a small team at BioWare” was working on early development for Mass Effect. They said the decision “not to move forward with this development” led to the studio’s closure. The memo calls BioWare “a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre.” Rock Paper Shotgun reports that The Sims, Skate and Battlefield developers also appear to have lost their jobs, as part of 400 layoffs.

Authors Catherynne M. Valente and Derek Kunsken both said they had worked on the game for years. Executive producer Mike Gamble thanked fans for 17 years of support at BioWare. Last year he had written that the team was “heads-down and focused exclusively on Mass Effect.”

Why it matters

BioWare first teased a new Mass Effect in 2020. Its last release in the series was Mass Effect: Andromeda in 2017, which Engadget says fans widely panned and which reportedly had a troubled development. Work on the new game continued through the 2021 Mass Effect Legendary Edition and through layoffs around Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Engadget concludes that, with EA not continuing development, the trailer is likely all anyone will see of the game.

An online petition asking EA to keep funding the series or license it to an outside studio had nearly 17,500 signatures at the time Ars Technica wrote about it. Ars notes that EA’s new private owners may prefer more profitable franchises such as Battlefield, The Sims and annual sports titles. GameSpot adds that EA may not want to sell the IP at all, citing the company’s history of shelving games and keeping others from making them.

The Mass Effect universe will continue on screen. IGN cites sources inside Prime Video saying the streaming series announced in 2024 is still in active development.

What we don’t know yet

Neither EA nor BioWare has commented on the leaked trailer in these reports. It is also unclear whether Mass Effect: Universe was the intended final title and whether the series will pass to another studio.