EA's CEO comments raise doubts about Mass Effect 5's future

EA recently announced that its fantasy RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet its sales targets, so the publisher adjusted its financial forecasts. This is another commercial miss from the veteran studio, whose most recent titles, Anthem and Mass Effect Andromeda, also failed to make a critical and commercial impact.

The Mass Effect 5 teaser from BioWare is now four years old.

In the following days, reports of developer BioWare losing team members emerged, alongside reports of some moving to other EA studios. The developer confirmed that the downsizing wouldn't affect progress on the new Mass Effect game as it was still in the pre-production phase - confirming that the highly anticipated game isn't ready for 'all hands on deck' development.

However, the fate of Mass Effect 5 - which is being presented as a sequel and spiritual successor to the original trilogy - is currently up in the air thanks to comments from EA CEO Andrew Wilson. During a recent financial call with investors, Wilson blamed the lack of live service features and multiplayer for Dragon Age's failure to meet the company's expectations.

"In order to break out beyond the core audience, games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category," Wilson said about Dragon Age and role-playing games or RPGs.

BioWare's team of 200 developers is now less than 100 people strong, and these comments from Andrew Wilson cast a pretty big shadow on the prospect of Mass Effect 5 launching as a single-player game in the style of the original trilogy. "Shared-world features" and "deeper engagement" are phrases often used to describe live service titles with multiplayer components, seasonal content, and microtransactions. Although Mass Effect 3 included a well-received multiplayer mode, the core game was still a narrative-driven action RPG set in an expansive sci-fi universe.

With EA focusing increasingly on live service titles for its revenue, these comments could lead to a shift in direction for the next Mass Effect - one that would see it shift from a single-player game to a live service title with "shared-world features." What makes these comments interesting is that single-player RPGs are in a great place right now thanks to the success of titles like Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, and, more recently, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Granted, Baldur's Gate 3 and Elden Ring feature co-op or multiplayer elements; however, they are not live-service titles.

• Read more: EA to focus on 'highest-value opportunities' following Dragon Age Veilguard sales blunder
• Read more: BioWare pre-production team starts cooking up Mass Effect 5: 'Our full focus is on Mass Effect'
• Read more: Dragon Age Veilguard significantly underperformed, may have sold less than 1.5 million copies
• Read more: EA heavily slashes earnings targets as Dragon Age, FC25 underperform, shares drop by 16%