In a matter of days, gamers will get their hands on Mass Effect: Andromeda, the long-awaited follow-up to the trilogy of games released between 2007 and 2012. However, some fans have wondered why BioWare chose to pursue Andromeda instead of Mass Effect 4 — and now the series' creative director, Mac Walters, has offered up an answer.

BioWare was in attendance at PAX East over the weekend, discussing the dialogue system that's featured in Andromeda among other topics. However, the panel began with the reasoning behind Andromeda being developed in favor of Mass Effect 4.

"We wanted the trilogy to end," said Walters. From the very beginning, Mass Effect was marketed as a trilogy, so the studio wanted to tie off as many loose ends as possible to reward gamers that stuck with them through the five-year release cycle, and allow its development staff to move on to new ideas.

The conclusive and controversial ending to Mass Effect 3 would have made it difficult for BioWare to deliver a straight follow-up. In fact, if BioWare had decided to work on Mass Effect 4, many players would have perhaps felt shortchanged, whether or not they thought the original ending to the trilogy was well-executed.

Instead, the studio decided to explore new ground with Andromeda, ignoring the conclusion of Mass Effect 3. It's too soon to say that this was the right choice, but we'll soon be able to judge for ourselves when the new game hits shelves later this month.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is scheduled to release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 21, 2017.

Source: The Wolf Hall