Mass Effect store listing that mentioned Shepard was a mistake, apparently

(Image credit: BioWare)

Back in November, BioWare issued a teaser image for a forthcoming Mass Effect game, depicting four characters walking from a shuttle towards a geth-shaped crater. As of recently, you've been able to purchase a high-quality lithograph of said image, which is so high-quality that, according to its store listing, "no detail is lost, right to the specks of dust and snow."

But that store listing made a bit of a boo-boo, apparently. According to YouTuber MrHulthen (via VGC), the listing originally alluded to the possible return of Commander Shepard, the beloved protagonist of the original Mass Effect trilogy. The text has been changed since, but when MrHulthen first spotted it, it contained the sentences: “Shepard's final quest may have ended the threat of the Reapers but at great cost including Earth itself. While Shepard and the survivors are left to pick up the pieces, fans are left wondering what’s next.”

Mass Effect fandom being what it is (read: cruelly starved of solid information; in love with Commander Shepard), that little slice of text has led to an outsize amount of speculation. It's understandable, because that sure is a lot of talk about Commander Shepard, and you'd think that a studio like BioWare, knowing its fanbase, would be a little careful playing with expectations. Also, what about poor Commander Ryder? Ryder was alright.

But Michael Gamble, project director on the still-unnamed Mass Effect game, says that it was indeed a mistake. "The original thing was written by the people who run the store and aren't familiar with the game," he wrote, adding a coy smiley face which could—and will—be interpreted in a thousand ways.

The original thing was written by the people who run the store and aren't familiar with the game :)May 10, 2022

Now the listing is vigilantly unexciting. Aside from some facts about the poster itself, it just reads: "Mass Effect will continue…" And that it will, though as of November last year the game was still in its early stages of development, so that continuation is likely a way off yet.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.