Update: Electronic Arts has confirmed that the rumor is false. "We’ve never worked with Sinclair Networks and they had nothing to do with the development of Mass Effect: Andromeda," a rep said "Beyond that we don’t have any news to share at this time regarding DLC."
Original story:
The Mass Effect rumor machine spun up quickly following a report yesterday which claimed that the planned story DLC for Mass Effect: Andromeda had been canceled. The rumor began with a Facebook message from a purported Austrian studio called Sinclair Networks, now deleted but captured by Critical Hit, claiming that its contract with BioWare to create three Andromeda DLCs had been cancelled.
"Due to issues in initial production, heavy critique, significant delays in other projects, staff allocation and reductions in Montreal, it was decided to shelve the franchise for the time being and all our resources and outsourcing are being focused to the 2018 release of Anthem," the message said. "For the moment the Mass Effect series will be on ice until BioWare can decide which direction the franchise will go."
The whole thing seemed dodgy, but nonetheless gathered some steam because Electronic Arts did put the series "on hiatus" in May and transitioned BioWare Montreal into a new role as a "support studio." Further messages posted on the BioWare Social Network fan site lent it an appearance of legitimacy too: Someone claiming to be an employee of the company said that DLC development had been outsourced because of downsizing at BioWare, but that the decision had been reversed in favor of a focus on Apex missions.
Earlier today, however, BioWare shot down the rumor on Twitter. "While we can't talk about future yet, I can def say we build our own dlc/patches for our games and don't hire fake companies to do so," Mass Effect: Andromeda producer Fernando Melo tweeted.
Addressing a comment about the studio's silence regarding the future of Andromeda, he continued, "The internet is what it is. Doesn't change the fact that there are things we can & cannot talk about at times, as part of a public company... however, new/future content etc is something we can't discuss yet sorry."
Producer Mike Gamble put it somewhat more bluntly.
Never heard of Sinclair Networks. Ever.June 29, 2017
Unfortunately, the process of taking the air out of this rumor down did not include any word about what sort of DLC is planned for the future of Andromeda, if any. BioWare hinted at the arrival of the Quarians and other races from the original Mass Effect trilogy in May, but nothing has been said about it since. Hopefully it's just playing its cards close to the vest, but with all the trouble surrounding Andromeda and BioWare's new focus on Anthem, if it does have something to reveal, now would be the time to do it.
I've emailed Electronic Arts for more information, and will update if and when I receive a reply.
