Commander Shepard voice actors Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale are getting together with other members of the Mass Effect voice cast and some BioWare developers next week for a special online panel to celebrate N7 Day.
BioWare established November 7 as N7 Day in 2012 as a sort of commemorative event for fans to share art, stories, cosplay pictures, and reminiscences of their time with the Mass Effect games. It quickly grew into a handy bit of viral marketing, although it's fair to say the whole thing has lost a little bit of its luster in recent years: In 2019, for instance, BioWare marked the day by adding Mass Effect-themed skins to Anthem, and not as a giveaway but as purchasable items at $8 each, which struck me as a rather sad commentary on the studio's struggles.
#MassEffect #N7 day ANNOUNCEMENT!@Mark_Meer @blumspew @kimberlydbrooks @RaphaelSbarge @courtenaytaylor @AlixWiltonRegan @wlsalyers @KarinWeekes @PatrickWeekes @MrDCDouglas @missalihillis & I are doing a very special panel 2 celebrate #N7 day Sat11/7 11am PSTstay tuned for linkOctober 30, 2020
2020's N7 Day looks like it will be a whole lot more interesting. The Shepards will be joined by Steven Blum (Grunt), Kimberly Brooks (Ashley Williams), Raphael Sbarge (Kaidan Alenko), Courtenay Taylor (Jack), Alix Wilton Regan (Samantha Traynor), William Salyers (Mordin Solus), DC Douglas (Legion), and Ali Hillis (Liara T'Soni), plus BioWare writer Patrick Weekes and editor Karen Weekes, for a "very special panel" to celebrate this year's N7 Day.
The reunion will be cool all by itself (although I can't help but notice that my Garrus/Wrex double-whammy goon squad is absent from the list of attendees) but the fact that BioWare went to the trouble of putting it all together makes me think there could be something more to it—something like, maybe, official word that a Mass Effect remaster is actually happening? Maybe even happening soon?
BRING YOUR TOOTHBRUSHES PEEPS! Love, Sam X https://t.co/dLygY29yiTNovember 1, 2020
I'm not teasing some kind of super-secret insider knowledge here, by the way—I have no idea what BioWare's motivations are here, or what's going on behind the scenes. A Mass Effect trilogy remaster hasn't been officially announced, but rumor has it that it's the "HD title" EA announced earlier this year . It would make sense for one of EA's most popular series to get a release at some point, wouldn't it?
The big N7 Day class reunion is scheduled to get underway at 11 am PT on November 7. The promised link hasn't arrived yet but if I had to guess, I'd look for it to happen on Twitch.
