Former BioWare Co-Founder Puts a New Mass Effect at Over US$200 Million

A new Mass Effect game that meets fans' expectations for a big-budget release would cost more than US$200 million, according to BioWare co-founder Trent Oster.

Oster made the estimate in a social media post dated 5 November 2026. The post came amid a fan push to bring the series back, which fans have been backing under the #SaveMassEffect campaign.

"AAA" is the industry's label for large, high-budget games made by major publishers. Oster called the US$200 million figure a rough ballpark, based on what his contemporaries have spent on comparable projects. He did not give a breakdown of the spending.

He also said the game could be made for less than that. In his view, a disciplined approach and an experienced team could deliver a good Mass Effect game for under US$200 million, Eurogamer reported. Oster publicly backed the #SaveMassEffect campaign in a post on 4 November.

BioWare released the first Mass Effect in 2007 as a science fiction role-playing game, with players making choices that shaped the story. The series has since had several sequels and spin-offs. AS noted that the campaign's organisers face a long road, with the figure Oster gave a sign of how much a new game would require.

For players, the number is a snapshot of the cost of a modern big-budget game, not a decision. No new Mass Effect game has been announced. Any future project would still need a publisher to fund it, and a studio to build it.

Big games take years to make. Teams of hundreds of people, from writers and artists to testers and engineers, work through thousands of decisions before a game reaches shops or digital storefronts. Costs of that scale are one reason publishers weigh each new series with care.

Fans will watch for any official word. For now, the figure is a estimate rather than a budget.