Was it already known that companion armor and weapons are fixed and can't be changed?
https://mobile.twitter.com/tibermoon/status/840651077049540608
Seems a little silly given the focus on research and development, if you can only ever use it on yourself.
Unless he misspoke, of course. If it's true I'm curious how companion weapon damage scales. I don't remember how it worked out in previous titles.
No, it wasn't already known.
The armour thing is... okay I guess.
The weapon thing... that's really bad, potentially. If we really have NO control over their weapons, like, can't even tell them to swap or whatever, then they'll do whatever stupid thing they like and that could be very annoying unless Unity or it's equivalent is free (probably picking people up like ME3 MP), esp. if Liam who "loves omni-blades" keeps suicidally charging people.
It'll also be super-lame if some of the alien weapons we find are really cool, and they won't use them. Or even worse, if their default weapon is just awful, like, say a shotgun that's slow-firing, low-damage, and inaccurate.
I'm hoping he just means we can't give them Ryder's weapons, but... if we have zero control... wow. That's the first thing about ME:A that actually worries me.
As for scaling, it worked differently in each game:
ME1 - You literally give them weapons, and they also have a skill with each weapon (and possibly a character-specific skill as well) that boosts weapon stats.
ME2 - You choose which weapon they are using from a small list (which may include a character-specific OP weapon), and you upgrade "All SMGs" or "All Shotguns" or the like for the entire crew including you by purchases and at the Research Station. Characters are limited to specific weapon types (for example, Heavy Pistols and SMGs for Miranda).
ME3 - You pick from the giant list of all weapons for each character - restricted in the same way as ME2 - and you an also choose which weapon mods are equipped on each. The weapons and weapon mods are each upgrades separately, but for all squad members, including Shepard.