Abstract:
The news this week that BioWare was shutting down and the next "Mass Effect" game was canceled shocked the industry, and now the empty "Coming Soon" page on EA's official website is even more embarrassing. Earlier this week, a piece of heavy news hit the entire industry: After being acquired by a Saudi investment fund for US$55 billion, EA launched a 400-person layoff plan and also shut down BioWare, the developer of the "Dragon Age" and "Mass Effect" series. For the game industry, which is already in a cold winter, this is undoubtedly adding insult to injury, and the subsequent development of the situation will make it even worse.
Less than 24 hours after the news of BioWare's closure came out, studio insiders leaked a trailer for the next "Mass Effect", which was originally called "Mass Effect: Universe." This made everyone realize that the team once held such a large-scale project in its hands, and compared with EA's current lineup of new games, this matter is even more embarrassing.
On the Bluesky social platform, Lex Ledi, editor-in-chief of the media startmenu, forwarded user foxhack's post, pointing out the bleak status of the "Coming Soon" section of EA's official website. As of this writing, there really isn't a single game in this section, which is particularly striking considering this is EA.
You may think this is just some kind of administrative oversight, but the "Latest Games" list on the official website is updated completely in a timely manner, and it is obviously maintained by someone. The news of the cancellation of the new "Mass Effect" game drew everyone's attention to this page, but it is unclear whether this game has actually been listed in this column before, because the web time machine does not retain relevant historical archives.
Although the empty upcoming page is telling, it does not mean that EA has no new game reserves at all. We already know that "Star Wars Jedi 3" and Motive Studios' "Iron Man" games are in development. EA also recently confirmed that a new "Battlefield" game is in production, and there is also a suspected new "Star Wars: Battlefront" game. In addition, new projects of "The Sims" are also in progress, and new sports series that are regularly launched every year are also in preparation.
Even if EA does have many games under development, this blank page is a cruel reminder that these works are still far away from official launch. Nowadays, the development cycle of 3A games has become longer and longer. Even if "Mass Effect: Universe" is launched, there is a high probability that it will not change this situation, but its cancellation will still add a pinch of salt to the already regrettable wound of the industry.
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