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Austin Wintory Shares 22 Minutes of Music He Pitched for Mass Effect 5, Days After BioWare's Closure
The composer's eight unreleased tracks show what he proposed for a game EA has now cancelled, and fans are still campaigning to keep the series alive.
The pitch Wintory made public
Composer Austin Wintory has shared early musical drafts as his pitch to score Mass Effect 5, and Mass Effect fans can now hear them. [1] He released a 22-minute YouTube video featuring eight unreleased tracks for the next Mass Effect. [1]
The video went up on his channel on October 27, 2026. [1] EA had shuttered BioWare on October 21, 2026, only days earlier. [1]
How the talks went
Wintory was in talks with EA and BioWare about composing the next Mass Effect, reportedly called Mass Effect Universe, before EA closed the studio and cancelled development. [1] He said he had been in serious conversations with BioWare and EA over the last couple years to join the project. [2]
Wintory says EA and BioWare never hired him, and he knew nothing about the Mass Effect 5 story. [1] He called the music just pure musical exploration, with the plot details a mystery to him at the time. [2]
He called Mass Effect his career's biggest dream project. [2] He also said that receiving the news of the cancellation and BioWare shutdown was a deeply felt loss. [2]
What the music does
Wintory created the music as a love letter to the original series composers while in talks with EA and BioWare to score the game. [1] The original Mass Effect soundtrack was composed by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick, and his music is a love letter to it. [1]
His suggestion to EA and BioWare was to treat the Wall and Hulick score as a starting point. [2] From there, he proposed building on it with physical, analog synths and a more interwoven orchestra. [2]
How it was produced
Wintory surprised EA and BioWare with an elaborate production of about 20 minutes of music during the talks. [2] He recorded the musical concepts with a Los Angeles orchestra last year. [3]
His YouTube description says the music was fully recorded and produced with synths, vocals, and a large orchestra in Los Angeles. [1] The music was not finalized for the game, and the leaked internal Mass Effect trailer uses a licensed song. [3]
Fans and the fight over the series
Fan petitions such as #SaveMassEffect crossed 200,000 signatures within a week. [1] Fans of the franchise also paid for a billboard in Times Square to support keeping the series alive. [3]
A former BioWare executive suggested EA could sell the Mass Effect and Dragon Age IPs, potentially saving both franchises. [1]
What this means for Mass Effect fans
If you follow Mass Effect, you can watch Wintory's 22-minute video on his YouTube channel, where it has been available since October 27, 2026. [1] It contains eight tracks made for the next game, which EA cancelled when it closed BioWare. [1]
The music is a set of drafts and was not finalized for the game. [3] If you want to back the campaign to keep the series alive, the #SaveMassEffect petitions crossed 200,000 signatures within a week. [1]
Sources
- Mass Effect 5 Composer Shares 22 Minutes of Unreleased Music Days After BioWare Shutdown — Beebom
- Composer Austin Wintory Shares 22 Minutes of Music Created for BioWare's Canceled Mass Effect 5 — IGN
- The Composer In Talks To Write Mass Effect 5’s Music Posts 22 Minutes Of Unused Songs So Good I’m Bummed Out Again — Kotaku
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