Leaked Trailer Shows the Mass Effect Game BioWare Was Making

A day after EA shut down BioWare, a trailer for the canceled next Mass Effect game has leaked online, and it seems the game was going to be called Mass Effect: Universe. Reddit user Random_Hyabusa_Ninja posted the roughly two-minute clip on r/masseffect on October 22, first in the replies of another post, and then as a standalone post. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has since confirmed on Bluesky that it's a real trailer for the Mass Effect game BioWare was working on up until the closure. The clip is a cinematic rather than gameplay. It follows a new human protagonist, with no sign of Shepard, through a tense bar conversation with an Asari who appears to be Liara T'Soni, cuts to a few gunfights and a Krogan, and ends on the Mass Effect: Universe logo.

The leak also raises questions about how far along the game actually was. EA's internal memo described it as being in early development, and around 50 of the 400 jobs EA is cutting were tied to it. However, a Reddit user claiming to be an EA employee said the trailer had been ready for months and that the project was further along than people think. BioWare first teased the game back in 2020, so that claim doesn't seem far-fetched, but its source is questionable at best. There's no word from EA on the leak so far, though it's reasonable to expect takedown requests to follow.