BioWare Montreal absorbed by EA Motive. Mass Effect IP returns to Edmonton

I'm sure it was asked on twitter if people were working on it at Edmonton, and one of the devs said yes.

I still lean towards there being DLC but something of Edmonton and/or Austin is doing it, at a less important and strict schedule than anything shifted/used for Anthem at the moment. That MEA is no longer anything of a significant priority, but that they may not be letting go the prospect of DLC profit. But because of such vague timelines (kind of in months instead of weeks) internally, and other reasons, they can't really strongly hint anything, let alone officially state anything, until it is absolutely coming on a specific date.

Again, only lean. Whatever lol.

My impression is MEA underperformed to hopes but it was an expected and still profitable and company-driving underperforming, and that they're wrapping up (over now, weeks, perhaps months) its cycle for a while (instead of going nuts with huge expansions of a surprisingly super blockbuster of a game) as they highly prioritize Anthem and move towards prioritizing DA4, until they return to the ME series.

'Interesting' really is the word for MEA's outcome, I'd bet. I don't think the series (or even more post-release prospects) is necessarily dead, but I also don't get any sense that its something EA cares to focus on at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised that if, say, Anthem or other sci-fi shooter toned properties hugely overperform, ME franchise does indeed get shelved - but I don't think that has happened yet, or necessarily will happen in the next years. Its just there - did good, made money, had controversy, didn't blow socks off, but with its circumstances didn't justify a studio devoted just to the franchise.

Could be wrong. I just don't think today's hopes for MEA DLC are unrealistic yet. It may be taking time, of unusual circumstance, etc, but if the franchise has any import to Bioware, I think they may still get 1-3 DLC out if only to assure audience that there is a path forward; I wouldn't expect so much sequel tease as DAI did in its final DLC, but I do think there may be a mix of closing off of some plotlines and a communicated open and more refined attitude to what may be in another game.

Still not really a concrete answer, but thanks anyway. BW loves being cryptic these days.

Fernando Melo on twitter

That's the one I was thinking of, thanks. For me the most compelling evidence for DLC is the fact that both the last issue of the Discovery comic and the Annihilation book have been delayed to October/November, and both will supposedly deal with the quarians. It seems like too much of a coincidence to me...

Horizon Zero Dawn was released on February 28th. IIRC, it's an open world game taking up about 39 GB, similar to MEA's size. HZD's DLC was announced last week, its release date sometime in November or December.

Andromeda's also a big game. Put two and two together and you'll see.