The “next” Mass Effect was publicly acknowledged back in September, but recently the game passed a major development milestone.
Executive Producer, Casey Hudson, praised the games progress on his Twitter account.
In a milestone review for next Mass Effect game. Team is doing outstanding work. Looks beautiful, fun, ambitious, and Mass Effect-y!
— Casey Hudson (@CaseyDHudson) September 10, 2013
Additional jovial thoughts were expressed by Assistant Director of Design, Aidan Scanlan, and Community Manager, Jessica Merizan.
Just saw a early presentation for the next Mass Effect. Good thing you weren't here because you would have Lost… Your… Shit!
— Aidan Scanlan (@aidanscanlan) September 12, 2013
Watching absolutely stunning work from @masseffect team. Goosebumps. Such a passionate, talented group of devs! Can't wait to say more <3 <3
— Jessica Merizan (@JessicaMerizan) September 12, 2013
Unfortunately, the game is not expected to be ready for an official announcement via a pre-rendered trailer or gameplay any time soon. BioWare Montreal Studio Director, Yanick Roy made this very clear.
@MassEffectSaga Sadly, it probably will still be a while before we show anything publicly. Sorry!
— Yanick Roy (@YanickRRoy) September 13, 2013
Mass Effect was released in 2007, Mass Effect 2 in 2010, and Mass Effect 3 in 2012. Based on this timeline and the likelihood of this next entry being a next-gen exclusive (and PC), don’t expect a release pre-2015.
The game will run on the Frostbite 3 engine, which Battlefield 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition are currently being developed on. So expect it to be beautiful.