A trailer from BioWare's cancelled Mass Effect game leaked online on October 22. Electronic Arts had announced the Edmonton studio's closure the day before. The Reddit video ends with the name Mass Effect: Universe, giving fans a glimpse of the project BioWare had been developing.
Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier confirmed that the trailer is genuine, and IGN independently verified it. The footage features an apparent new protagonist, a confrontation with an Asari and the return of Liara T'Soni. Its opening card identifies the video as in-engine footage using pre-production assets.
Leaked Trailer Features a New Character and Liara
The roughly two-minute trailer opens with a man wearing an N7 coat talking to an Asari in a crowded bar. He describes leaving the Alliance military and taking work that could stop conflicts before they start. He also talks about making decisions others won't and going into places others are afraid to go. Brief cuts show him fighting and travelling to other locations.
The conversation takes a turn when the Asari suggests she's responsible for some of the trouble he's been pursuing. Liara T'Soni from the original Mass Effect trilogy appears in the crowd as the encounter turns into a fight. The video doesn't identify the man by name or confirm whether he would have been playable.
Gunfire and biotic abilities send the bar into chaos. Enemies are suspended in mid-air as furniture crashes down around them. The montage also includes a hovercraft crossing an icy world, a huge alien inside a glass cylinder and a team studying a holographic map.
The dialogue suggests the group would have tried to stop threats before they became bigger conflicts. Still, the trailer doesn't confirm the full plot or show playable missions, dialogue choices or finished gameplay systems.
Leaked Mass Effect Trailer Confirmed as Genuine
The footage appeared on the Mass Effect subreddit, where moderators initially said they couldn't independently verify it. They later updated the post after Schreier and IGN confirmed that the trailer was authentic.
On October 21, EA described the next Mass Effect as a project handled by a small team in early development. The publisher announced it was ending the project and closing BioWare and its Edmonton workspace. As we reported when the closure was announced, that decision ended the studio's work on its remaining Mass Effect game.
The leaked video ends with Mass Effect: Universe, but EA never officially announced that as the game's final name. The cinematic footage also doesn't establish how much of the project was playable.
BioWare first teased the next Mass Effect in 2020. The trailer gives fans a longer look at the direction the team had been exploring, but EA has announced no plans to restart development.
Jon Scarr
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