BioWare, which recently released Dragon Age: Vailguard, which did not meet financial expectations, is reducing its development team and transferring employees to other Electronic Arts divisions. At the same time, the studio is fully focused on creating Mass Effects 5.
BioWare General Manager Gary McKay noted in his blog that in the early stages of development of the next part of the space RPG, the studio's full involvement is not required, so employees are transferred to other projects.
"Given this stage of development, we don’t require support from the full studio. We have incredible talent here at BioWare, and so we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit," McKay said in a statement.
It is not yet known how many people are leaving the team, but the statement also says that the core team remains in the studio and is fully focused on Mass Effects 5. In particular, the developers of the original trilogy - Mass Effects 2, 3 and Andromeda director and producer Mike Gamble, lead designer Preston Watamaniuk, art director Derek Watts, cinematic animation director Parrish Lay and others - will work on the next game.
"Today’s news will see BioWare become a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs. We appreciate your support as we build a new future for BioWare," McKay wrote.
We remind you that Mass Effect 5 was officially announced with a small teaser in November 2023. After that, there were also reports that a team of franchise veterans was working on the new game, and the sequel itself could be released no earlier than 2029. Currently, there are no other details about the game.