'Mass Effect 4' Release Coming? BioWare Hints At New Game, But First More 'Mass Effect 3' DLC

“Executive Producer Casey Hudson and his team are coming off an amazing eight-year run with the Mass Effect trilogy,” BioWare Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn wrote. “But they’re not done yet.”

Flynn revealed that BioWare is working on more multiplayer content for “Mass Effect” fans as well as more single-player stories that will launch throughout the next six months.  One of these single-player DLCs is called “Omega” and will be seeing a release date this fall.

“But the ‘Mass Effect’ universe is vast, and Casey and our teams have plans for another full game. “‘Where to go next?’ with such a project has been a question a lot of us have been asking, and we’d love to hear your ideas,” Flynn wrote.

It is unclear if this new game will be labeled as a “Mass Effect 4” or if it will take place in a different timeline and storyline within the “Mass Effect” universe. The ending of “Mass Effect 3” sparked quite a controversy within the franchise’s diehard gaming community, resulting in a complaint to the FTC reporting BioWare for false advertising, a massive delivery of more than 400 cupcakes to the BioWare offices in Edmonton, and the creation of social media protest groups called “Demand a Better Ending To Mass Effect 3” on Facebook and Twitter.

BioWare has stressed that fan feedback plays a crucial role in developing further “Mass Effect” content, as Jessica Merizan of BioWare posted to the BioWare official social forums in April.

“Feedback is definitely shaping this,” she wrote, presumably referring to the “Extended Cut” DLC that launched nearly two months later. “I think it’s a good compromise. That’s all I have to say on the matter.”

The announcement of a new full-length game and more “Mass Effect 3” DLC releases comes just as BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuck have retired from the company. On Tuesday, the two former executives took to the BioWare official website to inform fans of their departure.

“After nearly two decades in video games, I’ve decided to move on to pursue an entirely different set of challenges,” Muzyka wrote. “This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make; after thinking about it for many months, I made the decision to retire from video games back in early April 2012.”

Although BioWare has just officially announced that there will be another single player DLC to join “From Ashes” and the more recent “Leviathan” add-ons, a Reddit user said that the “Omega” DLC was unveiled for attendees of Comic Con Montreal three days ago. The image shows Commander Shepard alongside a red structure that resembles a Collector ship.

However, fans will have to wait to hear more updates from BioWare to know exactly what the DLC and forthcoming game will include. Just as with previous “Mass Effect 3” DLC releases, there are bound to be reported “leaks” and tips floating around the Internet.