The cancellation of the next Mass Effect game has become even more painful for fans following revelations from a former BioWare developer. According to veteran cinematic supervisor Tony de Waal, the studio was working on an ambitious RPG designed to deliver an unprecedented level of player freedom and meaningful choices. Inspired by the achievements of Larian Studios and CD Projekt Red, the project aimed to push the Mass Effect formula further than ever before. But with BioWare now closed and development officially cancelled, players may never discover what the team was building.
The gaming industry was shaken on 21 October 2026 when Electronic Arts announced the closure of BioWare, the legendary Canadian studio behind Mass Effect, Dragon Age and several other influential role-playing games.
The decision also brought an abrupt end to the next Mass Effect instalment, which had been in early development with a relatively small team.
Now, one of the developers involved has offered a glimpse into the creative ambitions behind the cancelled project.
His comments suggest that BioWare was not simply planning another conventional sci-fi adventure. Instead, the team wanted to create something that could significantly expand the possibilities of player-driven storytelling.
BioWare veteran reveals ambitious plans for the cancelled Mass Effect 4
Tony de Waal, a cinematic supervisor with nearly three decades of experience at BioWare, shared his thoughts in an emotional LinkedIn post following the studio’s closure.
The developer confirmed that he was among approximately 50 employees remaining at BioWare when EA made the decision to shut it down.
De Waal originally joined the company more than 29 years ago, contributing to its development during some of its most celebrated periods.
After leaving shortly after the release of Mass Effect 2, he eventually returned in 2021 to help complete Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Once that project was finished, he remained with the studio and began working on the next Mass Effect.
According to de Waal, the team believed it was developing an RPG capable of offering:
An exceptional degree of player autonomy, with decisions and consequences intended to go beyond what existing games had achieved.
His comments provide one of the clearest indications yet of the creative direction BioWare had been pursuing.
Unfortunately, the project was cancelled before the developers could demonstrate those ambitions to the public.
What exactly was BioWare trying to achieve?
De Waal did not reveal specific gameplay mechanics, storylines or technical systems planned for the next Mass Effect.
However, his description suggests that player agency was a major priority.
In role-playing games, player agency refers to the ability to influence events through decisions rather than simply following a predetermined storyline.
Depending on how a game is designed, this can involve dialogue choices, relationships, mission outcomes or larger changes to the fictional world.
BioWare has explored these ideas throughout its history, particularly in the original Mass Effect trilogy.
The cancelled project apparently aimed to take that philosophy further.
It is important to distinguish the team’s creative ambitions from completed features. De Waal was describing what developers hoped to achieve, not confirming that a finished game had already delivered those systems.
Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 helped inspire the new Mass Effect
Perhaps the most intriguing revelation concerns the games that influenced BioWare’s development team.
According to de Waal, the studio had been paying close attention to the work of Larian Studios and CD Projekt Red.
Both developers have become closely associated with ambitious role-playing experiences that place considerable importance on player decisions.
Their influence offers an interesting indication of how BioWare wanted to modernise Mass Effect.
What BioWare could learn from Baldur’s Gate 3
Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 demonstrated how flexible an RPG can become when developers create numerous possible solutions to quests and encounters.
The game allows players to approach situations through combat, persuasion, stealth, exploration and creative interactions with the environment.
Decisions can also affect relationships, character development and the direction of particular storylines.
Its success showed that audiences remain interested in complex RPG systems, even when those systems require substantial development resources.
For BioWare, whose earlier games helped establish many modern expectations surrounding character-driven RPGs, Larian’s achievement offered a compelling example of how the genre had evolved.
There is also a historical connection between the two companies.
BioWare developed the original Baldur’s Gate games, while Larian later brought the franchise to a new generation with its third instalment.
CD Projekt Red and the evolution of cinematic RPG storytelling
CD Projekt Red offers a different but equally relevant example.
Games such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077 combine cinematic presentation with expansive worlds, detailed characters and quests shaped by player decisions.
Their storytelling frequently explores difficult choices without providing straightforward moral answers.
This approach shares similarities with the original Mass Effect trilogy, which became famous for allowing players to shape Commander Shepard’s relationships and decisions.
De Waal did not identify particular mechanics BioWare intended to borrow from either developer.
Nevertheless, his comments suggest that the team wanted to learn from modern RPG design while preserving the identity that made Mass Effect successful.
Could the next Mass Effect have offered more freedom than Baldur’s Gate 3?
That is one of the biggest questions raised by the developer’s comments.
De Waal believed the project was moving towards an unusually ambitious level of choice, but it is impossible to know whether the completed game would have fulfilled that vision.
To understand what made the ambition interesting, it helps to examine how the major RPG franchises approach player freedom.
| RPG franchise | Approach to player choice |
|---|---|
| Mass Effect trilogy | Dialogue decisions, companion relationships and consequences across multiple games |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | Multiple approaches to quests, flexible combat and branching character outcomes |
| The Witcher 3 | Narrative decisions with consequences that may appear much later |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Character builds, alternative quest approaches and different narrative outcomes |
| Cancelled Mass Effect | Greater autonomy and meaningful choice were stated development ambitions; specific systems remain undisclosed |
The next Mass Effect might have attempted to combine the cinematic storytelling associated with BioWare with the flexibility d