Fans have been hoping for a remaster of the originalMass Effecttrilogy for years now. However, the developer BioWare has gone through major ups and downs, including the poor reception of bothAnthemandMass Effect: Andromeda, difficulties developing for EA’s Frostbite engine, several developers stepping down from various projects including a lead animator forAndromeda, and a continued lack of confirmation for the remastered trilogy.
TheMass Effectremaster, however, is not without evidence. There are an abundance of reasons to expect aMass Effectremastered trilogy could be right around the corner, including unannounced HD titles set for release by EA within this financial year and a newMass Effectart book announced earlier this week and set for release in early 2021. Here’s every bit of evidence that theMass Effectremaster is still in the works at BioWare.
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Long-term Hints of a Mass Effect Remaster
BioWare has been hinting at a potentialMass Effectremaster as far back as 2014when the general manager at BioWare’s Edmonton and Montreal studios, Aaryn Flynn, made a series of posts on the NeoGaf forum polling fans on features they’d like to see in a remaster of the trilogy and expressing his own hopes for a remastered trilogy. The fact that Flynn also listed his own hopes indicates that while a remaster was almost certainly in discussion at BioWare at this point, it had not necessarily been confirmed for production at BioWare at this time, and was at best in the very early stages.
In 2016, EA executive vice president Patrick Soderlund spoke in an interview at Gamescom on thepossibility of aMass Effectremaster. “The honest answer is that we are absolutely actively looking at it," he said, adding that fans “can expect us most likely to follow our fellow partners in Activision and other companies that have done this successfully.” Since that time, however, both Flynn and Soderlund have left BioWare and EA respectively, though the longstanding success of the remasters Soderlund referred to, particularly theHaloremasters which helped revive the series, make his point only more valid today.
All The Evidence From 2020
The official BioWare account released several cryptictweets hinting at a potentialMass EffectRemasterin January of 2020, including the intro to the first game, causing many fans to speculate that a remaster could be coming later in the year.
In May 2020,EA announced 14 games, including new releases, remasters, and Switch ports, were in production for release by the end of May 2021. So far only one remaster has been confirmed, theCommand and Conquer Collection’s HD remake, but many of the releases remain unannounced. Not only would aMass Effectremaster likely be a safe financial bet for EA right now, but one of the titles is currently listed simply as “EA HD title,” making it entirely possible that this is theMass Effect remaster.
In June 2020, the entire originalMass Effecttrilogy was released on Steamfollowed byMass: Effect Andromeda, which received more favorable reception on Steam than it did during its rocky original release.Andromeda, which had called into question the future of the franchise, now holds a “Very Positive” rating on Steam. Some fans have speculated that aMass Effectremastered trilogy could be made more likely by this demonstration of the franchise’s value, helping to overcome some anxieties about the series' future financial viability caused byAndromedain particular.
Earlier this week, publisher Dark Horse announced a 272-page book titledThe Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy: Expanded Edition, a follow-up toThe Art of the Mass Effect Universe, published in 2012. The new book has been given a Jul 22, 2025 release-date. It is already available for pre-order on Amazon and will cost $39.99, a price tag which hints at the expectation for revived in interest in the original trilogy in early 2021. The fiscal year ends in May, meaning the remaster would have to be set for release before then to be included in the 14 titles EA plans to release over the remainder of the year.
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Speculation and Mass Effect’s Future
If theMass Effecttrilogy was remastered and re-released in the first half of 2021 as the book release date suggests, BioWare could announce theMass Effectremaster on N7 Day, 2020, a day put aside by someMass Effectfans to celebrate the series. A November announcement would leave up to 6 months for pre-release marketing, which the release ofThe Art of the Mass Effect Universewould contribute to.
This theoretical schedule could also help explain why theMass Effectremastered trilogy was notably absent from EA Play on June 18 of this year, along with the fact that BioWare is also currently working onDragon Age 4, anAnthemoverhaul, and the early development of the nextMass Effectproject.
BioWare is a developer under a lot of pressure. Once considered the top of its class among the Western RPG developers, the financial and critical disappointments which began withDragon Age 2and more recently includedMass Effect: AndromedaandAnthemhave damaged the company’s reputation in the eyes of both players and EA.
The developer appears to be in a stage of reaffirming its worth as part of a recovery campaign, including theAnthemoverhaul, an attempt to recuperate some of the losses from one of its worst received games, which celebrated its 1-year anniversary in February of this year with little fanfare.
It would make sense during this time that BioWare would release a remaster of one of its most successful franchises, one which could help restore faith in the developer and make up for the financial disappointments of recent releases. WithDragon Age 4, theAnthemoverhaul, andMass Effect 5also in the pipeline, however, it remains possible thatMass Effectfans may have some time to wait until the release of a remaster.
Fans have already waited a long time for a remaster of the original trilogy, but now that hope seems more likely than ever. The remaster has yet to be officially announced, but one thing is certain: the announcement of the upcomingMass Effectartbook means many fans will be holding out hope until N7 day to see whether or not they’ll be able to revisit a remastered version of The Normandy, Omega, or their favorite store on the Citadel in 2021.
