Amazon’s Mass Effect adaptation and Mass Effect 5 were meant to complement each other, former BioWare project lead Michael Gamble has said. The canceled game would have continued the franchise behind Mass Effect Legendary Edition.
Gamble was responding to a fan who asked whether the plot of Mass Effect Universe, the game’s internal name, would be used for Amazon’s adaptation. His answer was brief: “Both are meant to complement each other.” The response was shared on November 8.
Amazon and MGM announced the television production in 2024. Gamble served as the game’s project director and executive producer at BioWare, which has since closed.
Choices in the original trilogy
The game behind the planned connection
Former cinematic supervisor Tony de Waal has also spoken publicly about the work lost with the game’s cancellation. His comments focused on player agency, describing ambitions for “a level of autonomy and choice that no other game has been able to match.”
De Waal said the team had been watching Larian Studios and CD Projekt RED as it developed its approach. “We saw what Larian and CD Projekt were bringing to the table with their latest offerings, and started down a path to bring Mass Effect to the next level while remaining true to the Trilogy,” he wrote.
De Waal also described the personal cost of the cancellation: “I’m sad you won’t ever get to see what we were cooking, and sad for the small, talented group of devs who were all punching above their weight to make something special.”
