‘Mass Effect 4’ Won't be a Continuation of the ‘Mass Effect 3’ Storyline; Could be Ready for Release by Q2 2016
BioWare's Mass Effect 4 release date is still "years away," said game producer Mike Gamble during July's San Diego Comic-Con. Back then, the company was still focusing on their Dragon Age: Inquisition game which was set for a November 18 release date. Following that, they said they willfully commit their resources come 2015 to working on Mass Effect 4. As of now, Mass Effect 4 may already be halfway through in its development. In any event, Mass Effect 4 system requirement will likely be the same as that the then just completed for Dragon Age: Inquisition project and will likely also be available on the Microsoft Windows PC, Play Stations 3 and 4 as well as Xbox 360 and Xbox One platforms.
An apparent insider to what's going on at Bio Ware named 'Shinobi602' posted on the NeoGaf forum on January 14: "Massive' in terms of size/scale, that's all. Yea 'optimistic' but not unlikely or anything, it could very well be ready by Q2 2016, the date's still not set even internally. There were about 50 or so devs on the game around when DAI shipped, that's since quadrupled in number. That new build Gamble was talking about was a big milestone related to that. Doubling down on one single engine (Frostbite) across all the studios is a huge advantage. Late 2015/very early 2016 was my own line of thought before I talked to certain people. They're making it the best game it can be, it'll be worth the wait."
Incidentally, although 'Mass Effect 4' will continue to be used as the working title of the upcoming video game project, it was clarified that the upcoming game will have nothing to do with the Commander Shepard story line that already conclusively ended with Mass Effect 3 in 2012. In Mass Effect 4, Shepard won't likely even be referenced to. Based on an informal Mass Effect 4 survey, it was apparently gathered that most fans want BioWare to take the series to somewhere new and to begin moving forward with a fresh set of characters and a new storyline.
Hence, the upcoming game will be the start of an entirely brand new serialized plot in the Mass Effect universe. In the Mass Effect 4 trailer shown at the Comic-Con and still accessible from the web, former executive producer Casey Hudson revealed some possible prototypes for both the setting, the new region of the galaxy where the action will take place, as well as the new characters, albeit they were wearing armors so there's no indication of their race nor gender, that may be featured in the next BioWare 'Mass Effect' franchise series. Despite the changes, Roy via Twitter promises that Mass Effect 4 will continue to be "the same type of game as the first three" Mass Effect games in terms of genre and ways of playing.