In case you missed yesterday’s tragic news, EA laid off 400 employees this week, including all of BioWare. The studio behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and more has been shut down and its latest project has been canceled. The game in question was a fifth entry in the Mass Effect universe, and BioWare shared very little about it – not even an official name. However, after the studio closed, a trailer for the sci-fi sequel began circulating on the Internet.
Although no official BioWare representative has confirmed that the images are real, Bloomberg Journalist Jason Schreier says this is the case. Schreier has a history of credible reporting in the field and was the first to break the news of the layoffs. IGN also said to have confirmed the legitimacy of the trailer.
If you want to see it for yourself, you can watch the trailer on Reddit.
“The following is footage filmed in our small team’s engine,” the text at the start of the video reads. “It uses our pre-production assets.” The footage doesn’t show any gameplay, but does include a nice CG cutscene of a new protagonist speaking with a female asari in a crowded bar. As he tells her about his life, we see him in the guise of a soldier, then a sort of spy, traveling to several planets to track conflicts and “stop them before they start”. After the female asari reveals that she “started the fires” he was trying to prevent, another woman behind her lowers a hood. This new woman reveals herself as Liara T’Soni, one of Mass Effect’s most iconic characters.
Next, Liara and the protagonist team up to take down the woman at the bar and her henchmen, using guns and telekinetic abilities. The trailer fades to black, then back to reveal the game’s potential title: Mass Effect Universe. It’s a great trailer – it’s a shame the game will never see the light of day.
If you’d like to join us in mourning BioWare, we’ve republished an oral history of the studio that was originally written by former editor Matt Bertz in 2016. You can also read our coverage articles on BioWare’s most recent releases: Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, Anthem, and Mass Effect Andromeda.
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