BioWare Co-Founder Says Mass Effect 5 Needs At Least $200 Million to Be Revived

Perhaps the biggest event of last month was Electronic Arts' decision to shut down BioWare and cancel Mass Effect: Universe—the fifth installment of the franchise that had been in development for several years. Since then, much has changed, and recent comments from the studio’s co-founder suggest that reviving the series will require a significant financial investment.

On his social media page on X, BioWare co-founder Trent Oster shared that despite widespread fan calls to save Mass Effect, bringing the project to life would require at least $200 million. Additionally, the rights to the franchise would need to be purchased from EA, with substantial further investment needed to develop the game itself. However, Oster also noted that with an experienced and high-quality team, the required budget might be lower. You can check out his comments below:

The scary component of Mass Effect is the audience is going to want the best of “AAA” development. Rough ballpark (based on contemporaries) is $200M+. That is a big number to commit up front. There has to be a bigger plan in place for the IP to make the math work.

That said, I think it can be done well for less than that amount with a disciplined approach and an experienced team.

In a recent interview, former BioWare producer Mark Darrah admitted that EA might be open to selling the rights of Mass Effect to another studio. However, the high price tag has deterred potential buyers, putting the franchise at risk of being abandoned forever. At one point, fans urged Xbox to acquire the rights to Mass Effect, but as Tom Henderson explained, such a deal might not be beneficial for Microsoft. Overall, this echoes what Trent Oster mentioned—the cost for a game like this could be prohibitively high, making it unlikely that anyone would take that step.

Yesterday, on November 7th, fans celebrated N7 Day —the global day for Mass Effect—which this year turned out to be truly special, albeit unfortunately tinged with some negative sentiments. Meanwhile, a petition with the hashtag #SaveMassEffect has already gathered over 300,000 signatures.

As for the cancelled Mass Effect 5, which was subtitled Universe, it was indeed an ambitious project. The story was set 600 years after the original trilogy’s ending, with a strong emphasis on player freedom—including the ability to create alternative timelines. According to Jason Schreier’s report, Electronic Arts decided to cancel the game and shut down BioWare in favor of a new third installment of Star Wars: Battlefront, which is being developed collaboratively by DICE and Respawn Entertainment.