A 2-Minute Mass Effect Universe Trailer Has Surfaced Online
Jason Schreier confirmed the cinematic is real, and its pre-production footage points to a Milky Way story set thousands of years after Mass Effect 3.
A two-minute cinematic video titled Mass Effect Universe surfaced on Reddit a day after BioWare announced its closure and the end of early development on the next Mass Effect. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier confirmed the trailer was real and said BioWare had been working on the game until the studio closed. IGN independently verified the footage as well.
Can confirm that this is a real trailer of the Mass Effect game that BioWare was developing up until its closure yesterday www.reddit.com/r/masseffect…
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2026-10-22T17:30:45.178Z
Codenamed Mass Effect Universe, the project would have returned the series to the Milky Way thousands of years after the events of Mass Effect 3. A small BioWare team assembled the trailer around an apparent small-scale spy-thriller concept set after the Reaper war, with Liara among its characters, as Video Games Chronicle reported.
The clip contains no gameplay. Its opening card describes the scenes as in-engine footage made with pre-production assets. A character glides, uses telekinetic abilities, scans a face, then fights with melee attacks and weapons. An older Liara T’Soni appears alongside an apparent new human lead described as ex-military, rather than Commander Shepard. A turian appears around 1:31, the same species as Garrus Vakarian.
The closing card reads “Mass Effect: Universe” and “Coming Soon,” but gives no release date and does not confirm the game’s final name. The footage captures an early concept, not a finished story, design, or indication of how the game would have played.
Before the video appeared, a Reddit commenter who described themself as an EA employee said they had seen a trailer a few months earlier and questioned how the project could still be in early development. The commenter also estimated that about 50 developers were on the Mass Effect team. Neither the employment claim nor the headcount is verified. Several hours later, the video appeared as a reply to a post sharing the comment. The original comment is the basis for both claims.
Which part of this far-future direction would you most want to have seen developed? Stay connected for context on the trailer and BioWare’s unfinished Mass Effect project through X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
