Mass Effect 4 will be using DICE's Frostbite engine. Currently, shooter game Battlefield 3 uses the Frostbite engine.
Yanick Roy, director BioWare Montreal studio said in the BioWare blog that the engine will have the systems that were developed by the Dragon Age 3: Inquisition team.
BioWare's Edmonton studio has handed over the control development of Mass Effect to its Montreal studio.
The staff at BioWare Montreal had earlier worked on the DLC of Mass Effect 2 and the game's secondary N7 missions. They also headed Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode and made "significant contributions" to the single-player campaign. The upcoming Mass Effect 3: Omega DLC is also their handiwork.
This move is a result of BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk leaving BioWare. Daniel Erickson, creative director Star Wars: The Old Republic and writer Alexander Freed also quit, leading to a major shake-up in the gaming company.
"While [Mass Effect 4] will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts," Yanick continued.
"You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling."
Last week, Casey Hudson, executive producer of the Mass Effect series Tweeted to fans appealing for feedback on future games.
"Great suggestions coming in for the next Mass Effect game. Seems to be lots of interest in playable alien races."
"We're in early stages of designing a completely new Mass Effect game. What would you want to see in it?"
Mass Effect 3 Omega DLC will release on Nov. 27.