With BioWare now officially shuttered and EA focusing on “established” IP (i.e. ball, gun and (not) gambling games), the common expectation is for BioWare’s IP to go the same way as all the other IP EA is sitting on: into the aether. That is, it’s probably not going to see the light of day again anytime soon. Yet, there’s a tiny bit of hope yet for Mass Effect fans in that the Amazon TV series is still, apparently, moving forward.
According to IGN’s sources inside Prime Video, the Mass Effect TV series is still in development at Amazon MGM Studios. One of those sources also stated that all of the creatives originally attached to the project are still onboard. No speculation was given as to why the project is still going, but IGN thinks that it may be due in part to the success of the Fallout TV series. Since that did so well, perhaps the thought is that this will as well.
I think there might be a little bit of sunk cost fallacy here too. The series was first rumored in 2021 and has been in active development since 2024, so it may be a combination of not wanting the money already put into it to go to waste and the hop that it’ll take off like Fallout did.
As for what the show will actually be about, details are still scarce, but it’s still the case that the show won’t follow Commander Shepard’s story and will instead be set some time after the original trilogy. This leaves the door open for fans to finally get a glimpse of what galactic civilization in the games could’ve looked like after the Reaper War.
We could’ve had that already, years ago. But, BioWare decided it needed to go to an entire other galaxy and goof around there instead. (Seriously, what did we even accomplish in Mass Effect: Andromeda?)
Anyway, Fallout saw a massive surge in interest after the show came out, so maybe, just maybe, EA won’t put Mass Effect into cold storage depending on how popular the show winds up being (assuming it gets released at all).
As a fan, I just hope Mass Effect doesn’t get the same treatment as the likes of Halo and, yes, Fallout. I wasn’t a huge fan of the show. It just…didn’t feel like Fallout to me. It looked like Fallout, but the tone and everything was just…off. Here’s hoping all goes well, yeah?
How do you feel about a Mass Effect TV series? Think you’ll watch it if it comes out?
Image is a Mass Effect screenshot