After news broke that Mass Effect 5 had been cancelled, composer Austin Wintory uploaded his pitch music for the project to YouTube, totaling around 22 minutes. This score was ultimately not officially adopted.
Wintory has worked on titles such as Journey and Sword & Sworcery. He stated that Mass Effect is his favorite game series and the project he most desired to participate in during his career. Over the past few years, he had been in serious discussions with BioWare and EA about joining the project, and in 2025, he proactively created a complete music pitch.
This pitch started with the soundtrack composed by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick for the original Mass Effect, paying homage to the original while further utilizing analog synthesizers and integrating orchestral and electronic elements more closely. The music was recorded and produced in Los Angeles, using synthesizers, vocals, and a large orchestra.
Wintory emphasized that when composing these tracks, he had not yet learned any plot details of the game, so the entire work was a pure musical exploration rather than being crafted for specific story scenes. He also stated that learning EA had decided to cancel the project and shut down BioWare was a heavy blow to him and his friends who lost their jobs. The music released this time preserves a creative attempt from the periphery of Mass Effect 5's development that was never officially adopted.