Spanning four games, novel adaptations, and comic books, Mass Effect has weaved quite the legacy since its first entry debuted on PC and consoles back in 2007, becoming one of gaming's most recognizable RPG franchises. The series was such a landmark success that it seems BioWare even started drafting up a first-person spin-off for the Nintendo DS, with a new interview between MinnMax and former BioWare producer Mark Darrah revealing new details about the canceled handheld title.
Known as Mass Effect: Corsair, Darrah reveals that the game would've taken place in a part of the Mass Effect universe only briefly explored in the main trilogy, noting that the setting would've been "more pirate-y." The spin-off would allegedly share a lot of similarities with titles like "Privateer and Star Control," seeing the player exploring the galaxy in a ship and selling the information they gleaned to the human alliance.
According to Darrah, players wouldn't be taking on the role of a Spectre this time around, but instead fill the shoes of a Han-Solo-type hero, roaming the universe independently and looking out for themselves. While the team had started early pre-production on the project, it didn't make it much further than the preliminary stages, with the interview revealing that BioWare had only really started work on the flight controls. As for why the idea was eventually abandoned, Darrah states a few reasons, although the biggest seems to the cost of developing on the Nintendo DS.
"The economics of the DS are just terrible," the developer admits, stating that the DS cartridge they'd need for the game cost $10.50 while the games themselves were retailing for around $30. Considering EA had projected the game would sell around 50,000 copies, the team decided to move on from the project. Darrah also admits that the game didn't entirely fit into Mass Effect's established lore, although he claims that the team likely could've made it worked.
Earlier this year, Mass Effect made its grand return to PC and consoles for the first time since 2017, with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remastering the original trilogy and adding some long-requested tweaks and fixes. The game came loaded with almost every DLC released for the trio of games, some major visual upgrades, and improvements to some of the game's most heavily criticized mechanics. The next mainline addition to the series is on the way, with BioWare announcing it was hard at work on a new Mass Effect at last year's Game Awards. In the meantime, the team is focused on Dragon Age 4, which currently has no official release date.