Reported by sources close to Kotaku, the publication reports that after the polarizing reception of the latest Mass Effect title (our review here gave it a decent 3.5 out of 5 score) it looks like the company may be taking some time off from all things Mass Effect for the foreseeable future.
Mind you this doesn't mean that the franchise is dead to rights. Rather to me it looks like BioWare is positioning itself to let the franchise sit a bit before jumping into a follow-up to Mass Effect Andromeda. While this uncertain future for the new franchise is troubling, honestly I feel like BioWare Montreal did drop the ball when it came to releasing this title.
Mass Effect Andromeda was the first forray into a big title for BioWare Montreal and perhaps the smaller team bit off more than they could chew with it. Previously, the Montreal studio was in charge of DLC and acting as support for the main BioWare Edmonton offices.
As for Edmonton, looks like their work on the still untitled "Project Dylan"... which is a brand new IP for BioWare... is what kept the main studio that created the original Mass Effect Trilogy from touching on Andromeda.
As a personal note... I didn't hate Mass Effect Andromeda and honestly quite liked it despite its MANY flaws. But I do understand the outcry against the title. BioWare Montreal was tasked to follow-up the widely popular original trilogy with a brand new story set with a brand new protagonist. While the studio did alot right... they also did alot wrong. Relegating animation to an algorithm that left much of the game's facial animations seem dead may have be the first nail in the coffin. I hope they do recover and that this isn't the last we see from arguably one of my favorite gaming franchises.
There are no reports yet what this hiatus means for any future expansions to the title... based on some end game scenes it was obvious they have plans for DLC.
