Mass Effect 5 developer BioWare highlights crack team of trilogy veterans

Reviving the beloved Mass Effect series — again! — may be a tough mission, but the veteran crew behind the upcoming Mass Effect 5 know a little something about assembling a squad to take on impossible odds.

Writing on social media platform X this week, Mass Effect 5 executive producer Mike Gamble highlighted some of the upcoming project's experienced leadership when responding to a fan who questioned whether anyone on the game had worked on the original Mass Effect trilogy.

«EP, Art Director, Creative Director, Game Director are all trilogy vets,» was Gamble's response.

An official teaser for Mass Effect 5 shows the return of Liara.

So, who are those veterans at the helm? Well, a quick scan of LinkedIn coupled with a look back at some of Gamble's past social media posts offers a good explanation.

First up is the EP, or executive producer, who is Gamble himself. Gamble began work on BioWare's sci-fi franchise with Mass Effect 2, stepping up to become associate producer on the game's DLC. Gamble held the same position for Mass Effect 3, before stepping up again to producer for that game's DLC and work on Andromeda. Gamble worked as lead producer for the well-received trilogy Legendary Edition, and has led the pitching and team building of Mass Effect 5 since work began in March 2019.

Mass Effect 5's art director looks to be Derek Watts, who Gamble previously confirmed was the original art director on Mass Effect 1. Watts is listed with the same position still currently on LinkedIn.

The game's creative director looks to be Parrish Ley, who Gamble previously confirmed had rejoined BioWare to work on Mass Effect 5. That confirmation didn't include a specific job title as such, but LinkedIn has Ley listed as a creative director for an unspecified project, beginning January 2020.

Lastly, sat in the game director's chair, is Preston Watmaniuk. He served as lead designer on all three games in the original Mass Effect trilogy, and now lists his role as game director on