Leaked trailer reveals footage from canceled Mass Effect: Universe — Ars Technica

A leak of an internal trailer for Mass Effect: Universe has shown footage from the canceled game in the series following the announcement of BioWare’s closure. The authenticity of the video, which first appeared on Reddit, was confirmed by IGN and Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier, Ars Technica reports.

Footage from early development

The montage lasts about two minutes. The video itself states that it contains in-engine footage created by a small team using pre-production materials. The main character is a former military serviceman in an N7 coat similar to the one featured in the game’s 2020 teaser. In a bar, he meets an asari and talks about a new job involving the prevention of threats.

Later, the asari is revealed to be involved in those threats, and N7’s allies enter the fight. The trailer shows a shootout in a bar: enemies are stopped in mass-effect fields, while interior objects fall on others. The video also includes scenes with a hovercraft over an icy planet, a giant alien creature in a glass cylinder, and a holographic diagram with dozens of marked points.

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BioWare’s closure and the future of the franchise

EA executives Cam Weber and David Tinson said in an address to employees that only a small team at BioWare had been working on the early development of Mass Effect. Their decision not to continue the project, they said, led to the studio’s closure.

Science fiction writers Catherynne M. Valente and Derek Kunsken said after the announcement that they had worked on the game for years. Executive producer Mike Gamble had previously stated that the team was focused exclusively on Mass Effect and was developing new features and romantic storylines.

Despite the game’s cancellation, the Mass Effect universe series for Prime Video, announced in 2024, remains in active development, according to IGN sources. A petition has also appeared online calling on EA to continue funding the series or transfer the license to another studio; at the time of publication, it had nearly 17,500 signatures.