What Does N7 Day Even Mean Anymore?

What Does N7 Day Even Mean Anymore

Yesterday Mass Effect fans celebrated the special day for the franchise – the so-called N7 day (named after the special force Commander Shepard is a part of). With bated breath, many of us waited for what Bioware has to say to the community on this special day. And… it wasn’t much.

Bioware posted a series of messages on their Twitter account sharing what Mass Effect franchise means for the developers. There has also been information about a variety of discounts for a number of Mass Effect themed merchandise. There are a few skins for Anthem added to celebrate the N7 day with your cash. And the last but not the least, Bioware answers questions about some of the unsolved mysteries of Mass Effect Universe – about half a decade too late for the main trilogy.




Of course, it wouldn’t be an N7 day celebration if Bioware’s Casey Hudson didn’t hint at the new Mass Effect game being in development – as he and other Bioware developers did quite a number of times in the last two years:

  • July 2018. In an interview with Game Informer, Casey Hudson spoke about the ME franchise: “It’s my baby. I helped start Mass Effect from the beginning. Of course we intend to get back to it at some point“.
  • August 2nd, 2018. In Bioware’s Mid-Summer Update, Casey Hudson revealed that “we hear loud and clear the interest in BioWare doing more Dragon Age and Mass Effect, so rest assured that we have some teams hidden away working on some secret stuff that I think you’ll really like – we’re just not ready to talk about any of it for a little while…
  • September 4th, 2018. Casey Hudson has taken to Twitter to reassure fans that “Some weird stuff going around about how our future games will be influenced by Anthem. Of course, when we do a Dragon Age game it will be designed from the ground up based on what Dragon Age should be. Same with Mass Effect… Anthem is a specific thing that’s unique from our other IPs in many ways. What carries forward is what we learn about game design, which is a constant evolution.”
  • N7 Day 2018. The Bioware team released a video dedicated to the franchise’s special day. Of note is the participation of Casey Hudson in the video with him saying: “It means coming into the studio every day, dreaming about what the next Mass Effect game will be“.
  • February 11, 2019, Mark Darrah’s interview with Polygon“We’re definitely not done with Mass Effect. There’s a lot of stories to be told. We could pull on the threads we put down with Andromeda; we could pull on threads from Mass Effect 3. There’s a lot of interesting space to be explored.”
  • N7 Day 2019. Casey Hudson takes to Twitter to share some of the concept art that hasn’t been used and reminds fans there are still many stories to tell:

I wouldn’t lie, it feels good to be reassured that Mass Effect is not done yet. But at this point, many fans, myself included, hope for something more than just reassurance. Despite the team’s words, Mass Effect still feels dead and its future does not seem to be too bright with the recent stumblings of the company behind it.

Forbes’ Paul Tassi and Destructoid’s Brett Makedonski have written articles on why it feels so depressing to be celebrating the N7 day this year. That sentiment is echoed across various social media platforms such as Reddit. Many fans have all but lost hope for the franchise at this point and are regarding Bioware with open skepticism. With nothing yet set in stone, N7 Day seems to be more of a celebration of what was rather than what is to come. With each passing year filled with silence or promises of the bright future somewhere way ahead, it becomes harder and harder to remain positive.

The N7 day has one thing right, however: no matter how bleak the future seems at this point, we still have our memories of the time spent saving the galaxy alongside Commander Shepard and the fantastic team of Normandy. No one can take the first jump through the Mass Relay, the first arrival on the Citadel, Mordin’s singing and, most importantly, the Citadel DLC from you.

While there are no new adventures to look forward to, you can still come together with other fans of the franchise from around the world to celebrate the good times we all had in the trilogy – and some of us even in Andromeda.

The Mass Effect Modding Community prepared a special showcase for you if you feel like returning to Normandy and would like to apply a fresh coat of paint.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Lost Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.