Jennifer Hale, the long-time voice actress for Female Shepard in the Mass Effect series, responded to the closure of BioWare and the cancellation of Mass Effect 5. After watching the leaked footage, she described it as "excellent" and expressed hope that the project could still be salvaged, stating that both the developers and the player community deserve a better outcome.
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Meanwhile, a Change.org petition titled "Save Mass Effect" is demanding that EA make a clear commitment to continue developing the series, with over 65,000 signatures at the time of the announcement. Mass Effect: Universe was revealed in 2020 and remained in early development for a long period until its cancellation this week.
Insider sources revealed that the project originally aimed to blend stealth operations with action design inspired by John Wick. However, these concepts did not make it into the final product.
Bear McCreary, who has worked on the music for God of War and Call of Duty, also responded to the situation. He believes that while the idea of former developers creating a spiritual successor through crowdfunding is appealing, it is not realistic given the scale of the Mass Effect project. Canadian politician Avi Lewis called on the government to support an employee buyout of the studio.
Development on the Mass Effect 5 game project has been halted, but the Mass Effect TV series currently in development by Prime Video is still moving forward.