Mass Effect 5 Writers Reflect on Their Unmade Game: ‘An Unforgettable Collaborative Experience’

The gaming community is still processing the recent news of BioWare’s closure and the cancellation of Mass Effect 5. While many involved in the project are likely navigating the aftermath and what they can share, a few team members have begun to open up about their experiences. Contrary to some narratives suggesting chaos, it seems the team was genuinely enthusiastic about their work.

Catherynne M. Valente, known to Mass Effect fans for her novel Mass Effect: Andromeda Annihilation, which features a fantastic audiobook narrated by Tom Taylorson, the voice of male Ryder, took to Twitter to express her feelings after the shutdown announcement. She revealed that she had spent three years as a writer on the game.

“It was one of the greatest privileges & GLORIOUS challenges of my life,” she shared. “I smiled every day. I worked HARD for the fans, every day. So when I say I am devastated by the end of #MassEffect I REALLY mean it. I don’t know how to express how gutted I truly am.”

Valente continued to defend the work of her team in response to comments suggesting that the gaming industry was failing if it couldn’t produce a sequel to what some consider the best game ever. She asserted that they were making significant progress.

We did figure it out. We were working on a great game. Just saying.

Elsewhere, when someone suggested Valente should have created a better game instead of Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, she clarified that she wasn’t involved in those titles and emphasized that she is “not, in fact, the personification of BioWare.” A quick glance at the credits would confirm her absence from those projects.

Valente isn’t the only writer who has confirmed her involvement in Mass Effect 5. Derek Künsken, author of the Quantum Universe novels, stated he had been working on the game intermittently for five years and was seeking clarity on what he could disclose. He described collaborating with Valente on character and lore as “the most energizing, in-the-zone collaboration” he’d experienced.

“There are too many great people to mention right now. All 50 deserve to be lauded and to land safely in new jobs,” he tweeted. “I hope you support them. I also hope to say more in a few weeks. The emotional dust needs to settle.”

Mass Effect 5 had only been teased a few times since its announcement in 2020, but the glimpses we got suggested it would connect the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. The first trailer featured Liara T’Soni from the original trilogy, and later hints indicated that a team from the Milky Way would respond to a distress call from Andromeda. The Angara, an alien race introduced in Mass Effect: Andromeda, were shown interacting with other Milky Way species, hinting at exciting cross-galactic encounters.