'Mass Effect Andromeda' release date rumors: EA confident of upcoming shooter's appeal to a wide range of audience

Game publisher Electronic Arts is positive that Bioware's upcoming shooter "Mass Effect Andromeda" will make a splash in the gaming world, and will make an impact in the realm of role-playing games.

Referring to the fourth "Mass Effect" iteration as an "emerging fan-favorite," EA Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson said during Investor Day that the upcoming shooter will attract fans as well as gamers from other types of games.

"As a category, role-playing games or RPGs continues to grow and break beyond what was the core gamer audience. We've seen other games in the category do this, and we believe that Mass Effect will do that," he said via DualShockers.

This means that "Mass Effect Andromeda" is expected to rake in more gamers apart from the franchise's legion of fans. This could certainly be the case, considering the upcoming title has a lot of new elements in it.

Commander Shepard will no longer be leading the space voyage, but a so-called Pathfinder, who Bioware hasn't gone into detail about yet. It also promises to introduce new allies and enemies in big new worlds.

In exploring all this, Bioware will give "unprecedented level of freedom" to players in "Mass Effect Andromeda." On the technology front, the developer is making the most of the Frostbite engine.

"We're pushing the technology to deliver visuals, story, and gameplay that have never been done in franchise history," Bioware General Manager Aaryn Flynn wrote on the "Mass Effect" blog.

Bioware and EA are going even bigger with the use of the crowd technology used on EA's golf video game "Rory McIlroy PGA Tour." With this, "Mass Effect Andromeda" will be able to add big throngs of characters for players to see and get through.

"Mass Effect Andromeda" was originally slated to come out holiday this year. However, Bioware is delaying it to "early 2017" so they can further improve the game.

Thankfully, fans will get to see and learn more about the installment in the upcoming EA Play press event on June 12.