'Mass Effect: Andromeda' release date news: Launching in early 2017 instead of Q4 2016

A screenshot from BioWare's trailer for "Mass Effect: Andromeda." Mass Effect/YouTube

Previously, speculations placed the release of "Mass Effect: Andromeda" to be sometime in late 2016, possibly during the holidays. However, it is now confirmed that the upcoming space exploration role-playing game will be released in the early months of next year.

According to IGN, the new release period was announced by publisher Electronic Arts through chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen. Jorgensen was asked about EA's plans on game releases during the Morgan Stanley's Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. The CFO answered that the very first release from the company will have to be "Mirror's Edge: Catalyst," while "Mass Effect: Andromeda" will be the last.

"We have our Mirror's Edge runner game this first quarter, and then we have Mass Effect, which is a sci-fi action game, in our fourth quarter. So big year ahead and we're pretty excited," Jorgensen said.

The fourth and final quarter in a fiscal year is from January to March. This means that "Mass Effect: Andromeda" will launch sometime in early 2017. This will cause a slight delay in the game, since previous speculations said that "Mass Effect: Andromeda" will roll out this year. EA itself hinted at it as an early trailer released at last year's E3 stated that the game is scheduled for a "holiday 2016 release."

Meanwhile, aside from "Mass Effect: Andromeda," Jorgensen also hinted at other projects by EA that will roll out soon, including a new "Battlefield" installment, and the much-rumored "Titanfall."

Jorgensen added, "We've got a great year ahead. We've got our Battlefield first-person shooter game coming in the third quarter, and our third-party title that Respawn, our partner, built, it's called Titanfall, it's the second title that they brought into that brand. Both of these are first-person shooters and will be targeted around the fast, action-driver shooter market, as well as the strategy-driven market in that quarter."

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