Mass Effect: Andromeda will not be released in 2016 as previously indicated, according to comments from an executive at the game's publisher, EA.

Speaking in an interview at a business summit, EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said the highly-anticipated sequel will be available "Q4". In the context of his comments, he appears to be referring to the fiscal fourth quarter, and not the calendar fourth quarter. EA's financial fourth quarter stretches across January to March, which means Jorgensen's claim is that Mass Effect Andromeda will ship at some point in the first three months of 2017.

If accurate, that would represent a slight release date delay. At E3 2015, a Mass Effect Andromeda reveal trailer stated the game's release date was set for "holiday 2016."

Here's the interview passage, verbatim:

Interviewer: Speaking of new IP, is there any updated colour you can offer on the FY17 release date, particularly with regards to your non-sport franchises. Jorgensen: Yeah we've got a great year ahead. For the first time I'm trying to dampen down Wall Street expectations, which is a good position to be in. We've got our Battlefield first-person shooter coming in the third quarter, and our third party title that Respawn built... it's called Titanfall... it's the second title they brought out under that brand. Both those are first-person shooter and will be targeted around both fast action-driven shooter market as well as the strategy driven market in the quarter. We have all our sports games, we have Mirror's Edge, a runner game coming out in the first quarter, and then we have Mass Effect, which is a sci-fi action game, in our fourth quarter. So big year ahead and we're pretty excited.

GameSpot has contacted EA for clarification.

EA previously indicated a 2017 release for Mass Effect: Andromeda on January 28, when it also narrowed down release windows for Titanfall 2 and the next Battlefield.

Mass Effect: Andromeda developer BioWare Montreal has disclosed few details regarding the next Mass Effect game. Trailers have suggested the game takes place after the original trilogy, as the legacy of Shepard is referenced.

Fans of the series may have discovered that the protagonist of Andromeda will be called Rider. A dog tag in the N7 Day trailer featured the word 'RYDER' or 'RIDER.'

It is also speculated the character could be named after Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. This would fit in with the naming of the original trilogy's protagonist, who was named Shepard after the first American man in space, Alan Shepard.

On February 15, Andromeda's lead writer, Chris Schlerf, left the studio to join Destiny developer Bungie.