BioWare was once developing Mass Effect: Corsair, a Nintendo DS spinoff from the Mass Effect franchise that would have had players flying ships to explore the far reaches of space.
In an interview with gaming podcast MinnMax, former BioWare producer Mark Darrah revealed more details about the canceled Mass Effect: Corsair, a first-person space exploration game set in the Mass Effect universe. The game would have expanded the universe of Mass Effect with a new setting, a new story and new spaceship mechanics, but the Nintendo DS project was ultimately scrapped. The team had only begun development on the game's flight controls when the project was shuttered due to financial concerns from series publisher EA.
While the game might be forever lost in space, Mass Effect: Corsair would have expanded on the sprawling sci-fi series in big ways. Players would have been tasked with mapping uncharted territory in Batarian space, a region the former project producer described as "more piratey."
“It was going to kinda be a combination of Privateer and Star Control…You would be independent," Darrah explained. "You’d be more like a Han Solo character, not a Spectre—and you’d be flying around, picking up cargoes, exploring. You could explore, and then sell that information back to the Human alliance.”
The project was only in the early stages of development before financial concerns began to grow. The development team, which had already developed Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, was familiar with the troubling costs of producing games on the Nintendo DS. Each DS cartridge of Mass Effect: Corsair would have cost BioWare around $10.50. At the time, Nintendo DS games sold at a standard retail price of $30, which would have amounted to limited profit after the costs of development. According to Darrah, EA did not expect the game to sell enough copies to be worth the investment, so the game was canceled.
"EA was predicting it was only going to sell, like, 50,000 copies... which I think was complete nonsense, but whatever!" Darrah said.
While Mass Effect: Corsair never came to fruition, part of the team moved to mobile development and worked on Mass Effect: Infiltrator, published by IronMonkey Studios and released in 2012.
The Mass Effect franchise hasn't seen a major new game release since Mass Effect: Andromeda, developed by BioWare and released in 2017. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a remastered collection of the original trilogy and its content expansions, released this May.
BioWare confirmed a new major Mass Effect game is in development with a new trailer at the 2020 Game Awards. The new entry will be a sequel to both the original trilogy and Andromeda, but details are still scarce. The studio has already stated the game will not be making an appearance at the upcoming EA Play Live event in July. Dragon Age, another of BioWare's staple franchises with a new game in development, will also not be appearing.
Source: YouTube
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