Mass Effect: Andromeda pushed to early 2017

Electronic Arts has delayed Mass Effect: Andromeda, the newest entry in its sci-fi space opera franchise, until the first quarter of 2017 for reasons unknown.

The fourth entry in BioWare's Mass Effect franchise - not counting Mass Effects Galaxy, Infiltrator, and Datapad, released for iOS devices rather than mainstream gaming systems - Andromeda is to follow on from the events of Mass Effect 3, but will be set considerably later in time than previous games and in the titular galaxy with an all-new protaganist. The game was teased back in 2012, but would not be formerly anounced until March the following year. More details of the game were released in 2014 at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), but it wasn't until the following year that EA would set a launch target of late 2016.

Sadly for fans of the franchise, that target is going to be missed. IBTimes is reporting from the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference that Electronic Arts' chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen told attendees the game would not be released until the company's fourth financial quarter - putting it into 2017.

The company's fourth financial quarter runs from January to March, meaning that the delay is set to be only three months at the most - but for critics of the game's third instalment, the ending of which drew enough ire from fans for BioWare to release a new ending as downloadable content, any delay will be taken as signs that all is not well in the game's development.