Something to look forward to: The Mass Effect series will be getting a second life, of sorts, with the launch of its upcoming Legendary Edition remaster. While the exact release date hasn't been disclosed by BioWare, new leaks may have done the job for them – for better or worse.

Two different online retailers – the Singapore-based Shopitree and Indonesia's GSShop – have listed a March 12 release date for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Ordinarily, retailer launch dates are rather meaningless, since they're often little more than placeholders or a company's best guess.

However, Shopitree and GSShop are the only two online shops we've seen mention this specific date (the listings have been removed now), and they aren't affiliated in any way, which means they listed the date independently of one another.

It's possible that these two retailers merely selected the same placeholder date without any inside knowledge of BioWare's actual release plans, but that seems a bit unlikely.

Fortunately, we don't have to rely entirely on speculation here: Eurogamer chimed into the conversation yesterday, effectively confirming the date: "...barring any further delays, Eurogamer understands the above date to be currently accurate," site editor Tom Phillips reports.

While there's still room for doubt, Eurogamer's leak reporting has generally proven trustworthy in the past. Of course, given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, there's every possibility that the remastered trilogy won't be ready in time for March 12, but we'll just have to wait and see.

If you aren't up-to-date on your gaming news, the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remaster seeks to bring this classic franchise up to snuff in modern times. No actual content is being reworked (this isn't a remake), but the visuals will be enhanced across the board, and support for high resolutions and refresh rates will be added.

Furthermore, the remaster will bundle all promo packs and single-player DLC into one cohesive package, (hopefully) making it the ideal jumping-off point for franchise newcomers.

Notably, only Mass Effect 1 through 3 will be included in the bundle. BioWare has wisely chosen to omit the controversial (and decidedly more modern) Mass Effect Andromeda from the roster here.