At the moment, details about the next Mass Effect game are scarce. The only thing we know is that it is in development. If we were to hazard a guess, it’d probably be a while before Mass Effect 4 will be available. If it’s any consolation, the new Mass Effect 4 narrative producer is a good sign that the next game won’t turn out to be as bad as Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Who Is The Mass Effect 4 Narrative Producer?
On June 7, Hilary Heskett took to Twitter to announce that she will join Mass Effect 4’s development team as its Narrative Producer. Heskett previously worked as the Senior Brand Manager for Bethesda Softworks. She was behind several media campaigns for some of Bethesda’s biggest titles. This includes, among others, The Evil Within 2 and Elder Scrolls Online, as well as upcoming titles, Starfield and Ghostwire Tokyo. She also played a key role in Bethesda’s market research and helped in media events, as well as demos. Before spending time with Bethesda Softworks, Heskett was a Community Consultant and Planner for BioWare from 2011 and 2013. She was part of the marketing team for Dragon Age: Inquisition and its post-launch content, as well as two of EA’s most maligned titles, Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem. After leaving Bethesda Softworks, Heskett came back to work for BioWare again in 2020, and now, she is the new Narrative Producer for Mass Effect 4. Fans seem to have mixed reactions to Heskett joining the Mass Effect 4 development team. Some are worried that her connection to both Andromeda and Anthem is a sign that Mass Effect 4 might be headed in the same direction. However, this fear is unwarranted. Heskett’s current and former positions do not grant her any creative control of the games at all. What the Narrative Producer does is manage the communication between the multiple writers, animators, producers, and directors that are working on the game. These individuals help set development goals and timetables, as well as make sure that everyone is on the same page. This means putting in the time helping with the editing and development of story outlines and scripts, among many others. One thing that fans should take away from Heskett’s signing is that this means that BioWare is gradually making headway with Mass Effect 4. Whether this means that Mass Effect 4 is close to full production is something that only BioWare knows at this point. However, the studio knows that the magic of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will eventually wear off. It will need to give fans something to look forward to outside of just a teaser that was released in December 2020. TLDR; Don’t expect Mass Effect 4 to come soon, but the hiring of a Narrative Producer does suggest that production might ramp up shortly.
