BioWare hasn't announced a remake of the Mass Effect trilogy for the Xbox One and PS4. However, BioWare Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn says that the studio's at least considering it.
"We have discussed that internally," Flynn said on Twitter when asked about the possibility of remastered versions of the first three ME games. "If we can put solid plans together we'll share. Great to hear you're keen."
They're facing the same dilemma that Naughty Dog faces with a PS4 remake of Last Of Us. Yes, lots of people would buy a full-priced remake even if all they did was spruce up the graphics. However, bringing the game to a new platform would require time and resources that could also be spent on a brand-new game.
In the case of BioWare, they're currently working on the fourth Mass Effect. This next game is said to be a "new story set in the Mass Effect universe" and won't feature Commander Shepard. It utilizes the Frostbite 3 engine introduced in Battlefield 4. Flynn confirmed in December that the game's already playable.
BioWare's been tight-lipped about the game to date, though. BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy apologized on Twitter this weekend for the lack of details released so far:
The new Mass Effect hasn't even been officially announced yet so it seems unlikely we'll get it this year. Dragon Age: Inquisition is already confirmed for late 2014. Even if the fourth Mass Effect could be finished by the end of the year, I doubt BioWare would release two of its RPG's on top of each other. The studio tends to release only major game per year, if that.
With Mass Effect 4 (or whatever it's called) not due until 2015 at the earliest, it seems like a shame for BioWare to expend any time or energy on a remake of the original trilogy. I'd rather have a shorter wait for a new game instead of retouched versions of old games. There's a possibility PS4 owners could be able to play the original ME games on their new console soon anyway thanks to PlayStation Now. All three games are available on PC, too.
As I said with the Last of Us PS4 situation, a possible solution would be to farm out the Mass Effect remakes to another studio. This is what BioWare did with the PC and PS3 versions of the first Mass Effect. They let Demiurge and Edge of Reality, respectively, create those versions so that they could focus on creating sequels. The PS3 and PC versions turned out just great, too.
