Cassie Gardner 
Fans of Mass Effect likely have a long wait until Mass Effect 5 launches, and they may have to play this new game on next-gen hardware like the PlayStation 6 and Xbox Series X/S successor.
N7 day has come and gone again, getting fans of the Mass Effect series excited for the next game. Included in the festivities was a short teaser trailer confirming that there will be a new installment in the series. Even though it lacked any concrete information about the game, just the confirmation of its existence was enough to excite fans.
Without any details on when to expect the next Mass Effect game, fans have taken it upon themselves to theorize when BioWare could be looking to release the next installment. On his show Game Mess Mornings, Jeff Grubb reported on when fans could see the next Mass Effect and it might not sit well with those who are hoping to step back onto the Normandy soon.
When will Mass Effect 5 come out?
Fans may have to wait until 2029 to see the next Mass Effect game getting a release.
Grubb commented on his show Game Mess Mornings that BioWare teasing Mass Effect 5 doesn’t mean that it will be coming out any time soon. With games seeing increasingly long development times, including the multi-year early access cycle of Baldur’s Gate 3, it shouldn’t be too surprising that Mass Effect 5 could be years away.
Grubb commented that since BioWare announced the existence of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in 2018 and it will be released in 2024, fans might not be playing it until 2029. As a demonstration of how far that is in the future, that could be more than a year after Microsoft’s targeted release dates for the next-gen Xbox console, and when it expects the PlayStation 6 to launch.
It could be an overstatement by Grubb, as Dreadwolf has had its share of issues during its development. If there are fewer internal snags, the game could come out sooner. Regardless, the indication is that Mass Effect 5 is still likely years away from coming out.
Why is Mass Effect 5 taking so long?
The development of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 5 have likely been stifled by repeated troubles within BioWare.
News of internal turmoil and layoffs within gaming companies has been a constant throughout 2023, and BioWare isn’t immune to this. The staff working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf faced layoffs, leading to BioWare getting sued and a recent picketing of the company. Although Dragon Age and Mass Effect 5 are separate projects, there have been numerous outward signs of issues within BioWare.
Consoles are also becoming stronger and able to take advantage of graphical leaps in quality, increasing the quality fans expect from games. With the rumors that the Nintendo Switch 2 could be able to hold its own against the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, a game like Mass Effect 5 could also wind up coming out on four different platforms, adding even more time for development.
Until it’s officially announced, fans won’t know when to expect Mass Effect 5. Using clues from other games being made currently is a good way to predict a possible release, but there’s no way to know for sure when fans will actually get to play the next Mass Effect game.
