Mass Effect Legendary Edition Sold So Well That It Even Surprised EA

Earlier this year, Electronic Arts and BioWare released Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a compilation that not only bundles the three games in the original Mass Effect trilogy together with (almost) all of their DLC, but also updated each game for modern platforms. There was a lot of excitement among Mass Effect fans for this release, and it looks like that meant big bucks for EA. In its most recent round of financials, EA revealed that the success of Mass Effect Legendary Edition has even surpassed its own expectations for the compilation.

Speaking to investors after EA's Q1 FY 2022 financials dropped [PDF], EA CEO Andrew House indicated that Mass Effect Legendary Edition performed far better than the company was expecting it to. "There is enduring power to the franchises and IP that we are building," House said. "The launch of Mass Effect Legendary Edition – the remaster of the first three Mass Effect games – reignited the passion of fans around the world, driving sales performance well above our expectations."

House went onto say that the launch of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 became a jumping-off point for new players, noting that EA will continue to invest in both franchises. That sounds like confirmation that a sequel to Fallen Order is in the works, though of course, we already knew that EA has plans to continue the Mass Effect series.

Later in the call, EA CFO and COO Blake Jorgensen characterized Mass Effect Legendary Edition as one of the main drivers of EA's success in the quarter. "We delivered a big beat this quarter, primarily driven by outperformance from two high quality new games: our Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and It Takes Two, the second title from our partnership with Hazelight Studios," Jorgensen said. In addition, Jorgensen states that EA's live service games did better than expected as well, with Apex Legends leading the way.

So, it seems EA has a mandate from the masses to make more Mass Effect following the success of Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Sadly, EA had nothing to say about the next Mass Effect game during EA Play Live in July, so we might be waiting a while for more details on that front.