The launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard apparently has the studio focused on other things.
We know BioWare is working on a new Mass Effect game: It’s been teasing it since at least 2021 with cryptic tweets and video clips that, for some of us, have led more to aggravation than anticipation. Given all that, and the fact that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is now out in the wild, some fans are no doubt hoping that the next N7 Day, which is now nearly upon us, will serve up some sort of proper reveal. Alas, it almost certainly will not.
“We hope everyone is enjoying their time in Dragon Age: The Veilguard,” BioWare posted on X. “It’s only a few days until N7 Day and this year will be quieter because of launch. Be sure to check back then for a little fun, though!”
N7 Day, for those not hip to the lingo, is an annual celebration of all things Mass Effect that occurs on November 7, named after the top-tier N7 rank for special forces in the Systems Alliance military. N7 is the only N-school (more formally the Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) program) designation allowed on uniforms, which is why Commander Shepard gets to run around with it plastered on their armor but you don’t see any N6 or N3 types anywhere on the scene.
N7 Day was a pretty big deal back when Mass Effect was also a big deal, but it’s been a relatively quiet affair since Mass Effect: Andromeda pulled a genophage on the whole thing. In the years since, BioWare has mainly used the day to remind people that Mass Effect still exists, and frankly it’s become a little awkward: Sooner or later you have to pull that gun off the wall and shoot someone, and BioWare’s failure to do so after so many years, as senior editor Robin Valentine wrote after 2023’s non-reveal, reflects an undeserved arrogance: “The studio is acting like it’s on a victory lap, when it should still be on its apology tour.”
(Casey Hudson dropped what could be considered the first tease for a new Mass Effect on N7 Day in 2018, but then he left the studio in 2020 and is now working on his own big sci-fi adventure, so I don’t think it counts anymore.)
Maybe the “quieter” N7 Day coming this week means that message has sunk in; it’s also possible (and, I would wager, more likely) that BioWare just doesn’t have anything new to say. Which, despite the focus on Dragon Age, is a little surprising given the dearth of Mass Effect 5 info so far: All we’ve heard about the new game over the past year is that it’s headed up by original trilogy veterans and won’t do a Veilguard-style aesthetic switcheroo. On the other hand, if the alternative to “quiet” is a quickfire ARG that leads to unremarkable concept art, I think I’ll take it.
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