After news of BioWare's closure broke, fans were confused: how was Mass Effect 5 reportedly still early in development if it was announced five years ago, in 2020? A day later, a short clip has leaked which seems to answer the question of Mass Effect 5's development progress.

The footage refers to an unannounced title called Mass Effect Universe, and begins with a warning that it was made with pre-production assets via a small team. In about two minutes, we are introduced to a new protagonist who was once a part of the same organization as Commander Shepard. Though the character shares many similarities with the previous series protagonist, it does not appear to actually be Commander Shepard.

Though Polygon cannot verify the validity of this footage, there's good reason to believe it is real. For one thing, people who worked on the next Mass Effect game claimed that they had figured it out and were "working on a great game." A recent post on LinkedIn also saw an alleged EA worker stating that a trailer for Mass Effect 5 was finished and ready. The footage does not have the typical markers one sees in AI-generated content, and it also appears to include voice acting work from figures who have worked on the series before.

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