Within days of each other, two developers who had previously worked on the Mass Effect franchise had to announce that they would no longer be able to continue.
The first news concerns Casey Hudson. His studio, Humanoid Origin, has been closed down because the rug was suddenly pulled out from under them due to a lack of funding. Now the spotlight is on Mac Walters. He was the writer of Mass Effect 3, then the director of Mass Effect: Andromeda, and was also involved with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. His studio, Worlds Untold, posted on LinkedIn that it was not closing, but that it had parted ways with Chinese tech giant NetEase and was looking for a new partner. In the meantime, development has been suspended.
“It’s hard to find the right words for this, but I wanted to let you know that we have made the very difficult decision to suspend operations at Worlds Untold while we look for a new partner to help us realize our vision. This was not a decision we made lightly – it’s been a deeply personal journey, and we’re all so proud of everything this team has built together. In the meantime, our incredible team members will be exploring new opportunities. This is a heartbreaking moment for everyone involved, but I’m deeply grateful for the support of our partners, friends, and family and the time we’ve had together at Worlds Untold. While we are taking a break for now, this is not goodbye – there is more to come, and we look forward to sharing the next chapter with you when the time is right,” Worlds Untold wrote.
Walters previously told WCCFTech what game the studio was working on: “I’ve done RPGs and I love them, but I wanted to do something story-driven. It’s an action RPG, but with a lot of story, and as much as we’ve always been able to blend that into the RPG choose-your-own-adventure style, I really like the idea of telling something that’s maybe a little more linear. It looks at choices and consequences and things like that but in a different light. I also looked at some of the games that I had enjoyed recently, whether it was The Last of Us or Uncharted, or Tomb Raider, that I got caught up in. I wanted to focus on making a game that allowed me to tell a great adventure story.”
Who wants to make a deal with Walters?
