BioWare’s Montreal studio says it will explore new directions with both story and gameplay in the next Mass Effect game.
It’s hardly a surprise that the Mass Effect franchise will carry on despite the end of Commander Shepard’s galaxy-saving story arc, but it won’t be happening in Edmonton. The next game will instead be developed by BioWare Montreal, which studio director Yanick Roy revealed is already working on the game. The studio had a hand in the development of both Mass Effect 2 and 3, but “always in conjunction with Casey [Hudson], the Mass Effect leads and the developers in Edmonton.” This time around, the Montreal team is in the driver’s seat.
“To ensure a proper and effective transition, we’ll continue to be supported by the Edmonton studio through the game’s development, working with and learning from them on some critical initiatives. On top of that, Casey remains the Executive Producer, but he will have a Project Director under him, working in Montreal, leading our development team and making day-to-day decisions for the game,” Roy wrote in a BioWare Blog post.
“There is really not much I can tell you about the game right now, except that it will be built with the amazing technology of Frostbite as its foundation, enhanced by many of the systems that the Dragon Age III team has already spent a lot of time building,” he continued. “The other thing I can tell you is that, while it will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts. You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling.”
The core team is already together and Roy said the studio will bulk up at an accelerated pace over the next year in order to support the development of the game. He also admitted that “it’s probably going to be quite awhile” before the team has any meaningful details about Mass Effect 4 (or whatever it ends up being called) to share.
Source: BioWare Blog
