Yesterday, EA shut down beloved Canadian developer BioWare and cancelled the Mass Effect game it was working on. In the wake of that mess, we’ve gotten what would appear to be a full trailer for the untitled sci-fi RPG.
On the Mass Effect Subreddit, someone claiming to be an EA employee shared a video for a game called “Mass Effect Universe” which showed an N7 soldier in a bar fighting off aliens with biotic abilities. More importantly, fan-favourite character Liara, seemingly voiced once again by actress Ali Hillis, was also featured, following previous trailers that teased her involvement.
While EA hasn’t commented on the video, Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier, who broke the news about BioWare’s closure, confirmed that the trailer is indeed real.
Can confirm that this is a real trailer of the Mass Effect game that BioWare was developing up until its closure yesterday www.reddit.com/r/masseffect…
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Alas, we’ll now never see what that team was cooking. This would have been the first Mass Effect game since 2017’s Andromeda, which was made by the now-defunct BioWare Montreal and garnered mixed reception compared to BioWare Edmonton’s beloved original trilogy. The fifth game reunited several BioWare veterans, including Mass Effect producer Michael Gamble, leaving many fans to hope it would be a return to form.
However, the project was beset by many development struggles. While it was originally announced way back in 2020, Bloomberg notes that the bulk of BioWare had been working on what would become Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which released in 2024 and would end up being the Canadian studio’s final game.
As a result, the project was reportedly still only in “early development” up until BioWare’s closure this week. It certainly didn’t help that EA, which has long been undergoing larger cost-cutting measures and recently took on billions in debt after being sold to the Saudis, had laid off many staff at BioWare as well. Per Bloomberg, only about 50 people were remaining at BioWare to develop the new Mass Effect, which is nowhere close to the hundreds of people that normally work on such a big AAA production.
And, of course, this goes well beyond Mass Effect. The loss of BioWare hurts immensely, given its storied work on the likes of Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and Dragon Age. This has led to countless tributes pouring in from fans and developers alike. In Canada, especially, the scrappy Edmonton team inspired so many developers, showing aspiring Canadian game makers that they, too, could make incredible world-class art here at home.
For more on BioWare and its incredible impact, check out our massive 20th anniversary feature on Knights of the Old Republic, featuring insights from several of the artists who worked on it.
Image credit: BioWare
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