Next Mass Effect in the hands of BioWare Montreal

Development of the new game in the Mass Effect series in under way, but not at BioWare Edmonton, which handled the first trilogy. BioWare Montreal has picked up the reins and will be using the Frostbite engine for the new series.

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Development of the new game in the Mass Effect series in under way, but not at BioWare Edmonton, which handled the first trilogy. BioWare Montreal has picked up the reins and will be using the Frostbite 2 engine for the new series.

The Montreal studio will be taking over the helm of the next game, and, although it has not released a game of it own, studio director Yanick Roy said in a blog post that the studio has handled cinematics and N7 missions for Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3's surprising multiplayer mode, and a "large piece" of the upcoming Omega DLC. Casey Hudson of the Edmonton studio will continue to be executive producer. Like with Dragon Age 3, the team will be moving away from Unreal Engine to EA's in-house Frostbite 2.

Roy said the studio will be respectful of the heritage of the Mass Effect series. "We are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts. You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling."

Now that the transfer of development power has been announced, BioWare Montreal has revealed several new job postings.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 12, 2012 9:00 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Next Mass Effect in the hands of BioWare Montreal.

    Development of the new game in the Mass Effect series in under way, but not at BioWare Edmonton, which handled the first trilogy. BioWare Montreal has picked up the reins and will be using the Frostbite engine for the new series.

    • reply
      November 12, 2012 9:09 AM

      These guys did work on ME2 so perhaps there is hope.

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        November 12, 2012 9:30 AM

        Now who's the badass biotic, bitch?

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      November 12, 2012 9:13 AM

      "Next' Mass Effect?

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA no.

      Then again I skipped the third one because it wasn't on Stream so maybe I'm not their demographic anyhow.

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        November 12, 2012 10:20 AM

        What? You think this franchise will ever end? our grandkids will be excited about Mass Effect 37: Shepard's Re-deathening Part 4.

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        November 12, 2012 10:33 AM

        you skipped a game because it was not on your favorite distribution method? yep, your opinion on the game is really interesting and meaningful!

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          November 12, 2012 10:44 AM

          To be fair, I cannot stand Origin either, it's a pile of shit and you can't turn it off if you want to play the game.

          "Distribution method" - fine.
          "Always on" - not fine.

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          November 12, 2012 12:49 PM

          I gave no opinion on the game. The suggestion that I had any opinion about a game I've never played is silly.

          I was remarking about the fact that they were selling ME originally as a trilogy with an ending and now they're churning out another X number of them because it's safer to make more of the same thing than it is to create something new.

          I was also hinting at my opinion that I no longer enjoy Bioware games, which makes me kinda sad, because they used to be really good, and that their sales model (And they aren't alone in this) is odious enough for me to choose not to give them my money.

          I don't like their method of distro. Not buying based on that is perfectly valid. I want the game less than I want to click "Yes" on their TOS.

          I didn't buy a DIVX player either.

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      November 12, 2012 9:17 AM

      Are you sure it's not Visceral Montreal? Having a hard time keeping track of these buzzword-branded studio names.

      Sarcasm aside, Visceral Montreal is working on another "Game No One Asked For", Army of Two III.

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        November 12, 2012 9:28 AM

        There's both a Visceral Montreal and a Bioware Montreal.
        Same building but different floors.

        They have different Christmas parties too!
        They probably throw mud at each other when they are outside

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      November 12, 2012 9:38 AM

      I hope this is a flexible engine, if not and this is just a FPS I'm so out!

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      November 12, 2012 10:19 AM

      i recently played mass effect 3 and i expected the worst ending in history of endings. To my surprise the game ended and my extended cut ending was great!
      I don't know which ending actually was the original ending, but the ending i got, was pretty nice actually.
      next mass effect? sure, i'm in - i loved every part of the series.

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        November 12, 2012 4:57 PM

        I loved the game, the original ending, and the series as a whole. As someone working on a Frostbite 2 game, I am super curious to see what they come up with and where they take the franchise narratively.

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      November 12, 2012 10:22 AM

      they just announced the subtitle: Mass Effect 4: A Clash of Bros

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      November 12, 2012 10:37 AM

      Not sure where I want them to go with it but I'm excited about another Mass Effect game.

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      November 12, 2012 10:39 AM

      Special Guest Character Designer: Cliff Blazinski

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      November 12, 2012 10:39 AM

      If they do a completely different story in the same universe, why wouldn't we want this?

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      November 12, 2012 12:54 PM

      So what will the Edmonton studio work on?

      I'm not happy that new ME games will be developed by the guys responsible for multiplayer in ME3. It could mean that MP will be the focus now, which would suck donkey balls.

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        November 12, 2012 1:03 PM

        well the multiplayer for ME3 is fucking awesome and I wouldn't mind say a full on co-op Mass Effect game set during the First Contact War or something. I wouldn't knock them just yet at least until we know a little more about where they want to take it.

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          November 12, 2012 1:35 PM

          I don't care how good or bad is MP as I don't play it. What I don't want is MP is fucking up my SP gameplay, as in ME3.

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      November 12, 2012 1:15 PM

      Frostbite supports almost 2 million explosion colours, so be ready for lots of different* endings.

      *The same

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