It goes without saying that one of the most controversial releases of 2017 wasMass Effect: Andromeda, a game that carried the heavy weight of expectation on its shoulder the moment it was announced. Unfortunately, the finished product didn’t exactly live up to the hype and a little bit later theentire series was shelved by BioWare.
In lieu of putting in some serious work on newAndromedacontent, much of the development staff has recently beenshifted to EA Motive. Today,Mass Effect Andromedalead designer Ian Frazier has confirmed that he is one of those developers.
While it’s expected that many of the formerAndromedateam will work onStar Wars Battlefront 2,Frazier announced over Twitter that his post-merger role at EA Motive has him working on an unannounced intellectual property. He’s not the onlyMass Effectdeveloper who had made the jump to an unknown entity, as it’s something formerMass Effectwriter Drew Karpyshyn didahead ofAnthem’s announcement. While the latter is now a known quantity, nothing is known about Frazier’s latest project.
Frazier’s announcement also dashes any hopes ofupcomingAndromedaDLC, which one would assume needs its lead designer and other staff members. The studio had planned to immediately begin production on anAndromedasequel following the launch of the game, but its lackluster reception has forced BioWare to take a new direction while trying to figure out what all went wrong with the project. In any event, it’s all in Frazier’s rearview mirror now.
The Purdue University graduate got his start in the video game industry with Iron Lore Entertainment after he’d spent years working on anUltima 5remake. From there, Frazier spent some time with both Big Huge Games (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Next Big Thing) and Epic Games (Infinity Blade: Dungeons) before being recruited by BioWare in 2013, where he was put to work on theMass Effectfranchise.
In any event, it’ll likely still be a significant amount of time before his next project will be publicly listed on his impressive CV, and we wish him the best of luck in his new workplace.
Mass Effect: Andromedais available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
