By Space adventures are always a fun premise. As our sister site Destructoid reported this morning, EA and FUNimation announced that they will be putting out a direct-to-video adaptation of the Mass Effect game series. BioWare’s Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the series, will be filling the same role for the film. While it won’t be a direct adaptation following the adventures of Commander Shepard, the film will be set in the same universe (literally) and expand on the overall story of the Mass Effect world.
While full-on adaptations of video games are often pretty terrible, there’s so much to play with in the universe that there’s some definite promise here. The full press release is below the jump. If you’re looking for a sci-fi adventure “in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets,” look out for this next summer.
EA AND FUNIMATION ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE MASS EFFECT ANIME MOVIE DEAL
Home Video Adaptation of Award-Winning Sci-Fi Game Scheduled for Release in 2012
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.- April 7, 2011– BioWare™, a division of leading video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and FUNimation® Entertainment, the leading distributor of Japanese animation in North America, announced today an agreement to create an anime feature film adapted from one of the video game industry’s most revered franchises, Mass Effect™. Tokyo-based anime and international feature film production company T.O Entertainment, Inc. has signed on as a co-producer on the video. Based on the Mass Effect universe, the anime video will tell the tale of an epic science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets.
Casey Hudson of BioWare, executive producer of the Mass Effect series, will serve as executive producer on the film, along with FUNimation President and CEO Gen Fukunaga and Director of Original Entertainment Chris Moujaes and T.O Entertainment’s CEO Takeichi Honda and Yui Shibata.
“Over the last few years, we have revealed different pieces of the Mass Effect world through different media. Extending the story through an anime medium is another amazing opportunity for us,” said Casey Hudson, Executive Producer for the Mass Effect series. “Partnering with FUNimation ensures that we will bring this rich universe to life with the utmost quality and the same attention to detail that the Mass Effect games are known for.”
“It is thanks to the enormous and passionate Mass Effect fan base that this movie is made possible,” said Gen Fukunaga, President & CEO of FUNimation. “With production underway on the Dragon Age video, we are excited to team up with another BioWare team to add an exciting new chapter to this vast sci-fi world.”
Production of the Mass Effect anime movie has already begun. Digital and home video releases are scheduled for the summer of 2012.