Former Mass Effect screenwriter founded new studio to develop AAA games with money from NetEase – details on debut project

Mass Effect Legendary Edition director and one of the lead writers of the Mass Effect trilogy, Mac Walters, who left BioWare in January, popped up with a new studio backed by China’s NetEase Games.

Image source: Steam (Brownie.66)

The established studio was called Worlds Untold and is part of NetEase Games. The company is based in Vancouver, Canada, but is fully compatible with remote work. Walters became CEO of the new company.

In addition to Walters, Worlds Untold features several other industry veterans:

• Sound designer Sotaro Tojima – over 20 years of experience working on audio in games like Metal Gear Solid and Halo;
• Production Manager Elizabeth Lehtonen – worked on the Dragon Age, The Sims and Angry Birds franchises;
• Art Director Ramil Sunga – has worked on concept art for various games for more than 20 years, including Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem and the entire Dragon Age series;
• Technical Director Ben Goldstein – with nearly two decades of work in the industry, he managed to oversee the ports of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag to Xbox One and For Honor to PS4, and most recently worked at Tesla and Cruise.

Image source: NetEase Games

Worlds Untold positions itself as a AAA studio dedicated to developing games based on new intellectual properties whose depth and breadth cannot be summarized in a single project or form of entertainment.

Worlds Untold’s debut game will be a science fiction action-adventure set in the near future. They promise “Exciting worlds full of secrets and opportunities to explore”.

Image attached to the Worlds Untold announcement on the NetEase Games website (Image source: NetEase Games)

“We start by creating worlds we’ve always dreamed of exploring, and then we send players into them in leading roles to experience unforgettable adventures.”says Walters about the first Worlds Untold game.

Walters isn’t the only Mass Effect veteran heading into the wild. Series writer Casey Hudson founded the Humanoid studio and Andromeda director Aaryn Flynn founded Inflexion Games (Nightingale).