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Kotaku: Mass Effect on hiatus, most BioWare Montreal staff now at Motive, still on MP
- Thread starter dex3108
- Start date
Lionel Richie
Member
Goddamn people stop bringing up Dead Space, my heart still hurts 
ROUGE_BLOCK
Member
Amen to that
I dropped it in 25ish hours and ME2 is still number one on my top ten games of all time. Largely dissappointing is 100% on the mark.
This would have been a totally serviceable video game without the ME name attached to it, and the baggage that comes with succeeding one of the "best" video game trilogies ever.
Mass Effect is absolutely my favourite videogame franchise ever. For example, I've done something like 33 complete playthroughs of ME2 alone (including gimmick stuff like insanity runs where I didn't fire guns ever; 100% talent use only). Across the whole original trilogy, it tots up to something over 70 playthroughs. So, I really, *really* gave ME:A a chance. I've about 80 hours logged with the game, but in the end, I just couldn't bring myself to finish it.
By far, ME:A is the most profoundly disappointed I've been by a game ever.
I didn't. If all parties involved were in agreement with ME going into much larger semi-open sandbox you'd think there would've been some leeway to figure out the kinks, especially with a new team heading the project. A swift boot seems harsh.
Drive around a bit on those planets and you'll see.
SliChillax
Member
Yeah blame EA because Bioware made a mediocre game. Maybe they should have had a more competent team developing such a high praised franchise. Maybe they should have delayed the game, they had full approval to do so. But sure, blame EA because a game they financed got shat on by critics and didn't sell as well as it should have. You do realize without EA there would be no Mass Effect, right? Be thankful for what you got and don't blame it on stuff you don't understand.
Should have been left to rest? So now 5 years between games is too short? Do you have a time travelling machine or something and fast forward time
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Unlike ME:A Titanfall isn't damaging the brand.
randomengine
Banned
Has an EA game on hiatus ever returned?
Can we compile a list?
The times I can remember are:
NBA Live
Dungeon Keeper (mobile)
That's not a good track record...
Can we compile a list?
The times I can remember are:
NBA Live
Dungeon Keeper (mobile)
That's not a good track record...
Well, we got Mirror's Edge eventually (though EA really gutted it of what made the original brilliant...)
Still, EA's song and dance is getting a little repetitive.
SomedayTheFire
Member
Mass Effect: Sombrero coming 2020. Might as well wash their hands clean of Andromeda and move to a new galaxy.
No they didn't.
Unfortunate, but ultimately to be expected. Hopefully the series can be rebooted with better execution.
GameAddict411
Member
I guess bioware management team is to blame here considering they oked the launch of the game despite all the issues. While there was a lot of hyperbole through out the launch of the game, the mass efdeft franchise certainly far deserved better team to work on it. That's coming from someone who enjoyed the game very much, it just fell short in a lot of places where the original trilogy did very well. Now this basically killer the series for now. It's very sad we won't know what will happen next in the games.
PSlayer
Member
AAA games are too expensive to underperform these days.It doesn't matter if it is mediocre or buggy as long as it sells. As someone pointed out, Bethesda games are traditionally broken as fuck but they sell really well so...
What nice thing did we get?
Not too surprising. Years of development, and the fan base was not enamored with the final product. Comments about "internet rage" seem beside the point - anybody that cared enough to make GIFs of bad animations only did so because they hoped for better from the franchise. There is also the fact that if you look at any of Nirolak's recent threads, games like Mass Effect seem to be way outside of the typical manner in which EA makes money now. You can't squeeze them out annually, and any aggressive attempts at trying to extract money outside of the typical DLC would just fan the flames on it being an unfinished release. It makes you wonder if the memebase image is that far off base, as far as the sorts of games people have come to expect from Bioware.
Aretak
Member
They were a support studio to begin with. Andromeda was their big shot at making their own game, and you saw the results. Going back to being a support studio is probably for the best.
So, yesterday they said that it didn't meet expectations, but in one of the blog posts they mentioned "millions of players arround the world".
By how much did they not meet the expectations here? Sales must have been catastrophic, in order to make that decision for a huge franchise after 50 days, no?
By how much did they not meet the expectations here? Sales must have been catastrophic, in order to make that decision for a huge franchise after 50 days, no?
InsaneFandom
Member
That sucks. Andromeda has it's faults but I still really loved it
Hopefully it isn't for too long.. :/
Ah shit yeah, this probably means no DLC too which really sucks
I do think the word of mouth online for this game has been pretty hyperbolic - I get that gaf doesn't like it (gaf also doesn't like half of modern biowares games tbf) & you're obviously entitled to not like it but it isn't an awful game by any means. I do think more people should try it for themselves really, at it's core it's a solid ME game - just focus on the main & character related missions if you get bored of the side content (of which there is too much filler I agree, but it's like 99% optional)
Hopefully it isn't for too long.. :/
Ah shit yeah, this probably means no DLC too which really sucks
I do think the word of mouth online for this game has been pretty hyperbolic - I get that gaf doesn't like it (gaf also doesn't like half of modern biowares games tbf) & you're obviously entitled to not like it but it isn't an awful game by any means. I do think more people should try it for themselves really, at it's core it's a solid ME game - just focus on the main & character related missions if you get bored of the side content (of which there is too much filler I agree, but it's like 99% optional)
captainnapalm
Member
I don't think you can entirely blame the Montreal studio for Andromeda's problems. The game is structured in a similar way to Inquisition so that was obviously an approach mandated from on high. And that also happens to be one of the game's biggest problems. There's one game featuring missions and characters which is ok, and then there's this other game featuring an open world, which totally sucks balls.
Of course, even aside from that, the entire premise is bone-headed, the main characters are piss poor, and most of the companions are uninteresting.
I don't know who you blame that on, but again, the bad writing was on the wall with Inquisition too.
Of course, even aside from that, the entire premise is bone-headed, the main characters are piss poor, and most of the companions are uninteresting.
I don't know who you blame that on, but again, the bad writing was on the wall with Inquisition too.
JigglesBunny
Banned
Bums me out that the few interesting threads in Andromeda were basically setup for the next entry. Same with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. A cautionary tale for less sequel/DLC bait in favor of self-contained narratives when the future is not assured, though that's not going to stop most developers who are focused on building a franchise.
Suzushiiro
Banned
There's certainly things EA could have done differently (not give their flagship series to a C-team, for one) but yeah, I think EA decided to actually not be EA for once- give the team a fair amount of time, not fuck over the game by demanding important content be cut out as DLC, etc etc- but then the years went on and on and the game was still a dumpster fire, and EA finally had to put their foot down and force them to ship the game.
Sephiroth503
Member
I'm not surprised, I don't find it to be a good game at all and no where meets the standards of the previous games. Unfortunately Andromeda is enough to damage the brand.
Bioware needs to take a good look at itself and get their shit together.
Bioware needs to take a good look at itself and get their shit together.
facetheslayer92
Member
Mass Effect, Burnout, Dragon Age, Dead Space, Army of Two, and Mirrors Edge all on hiatus.
EA is gonna stick to Battlefield, FIFA, Madden, and Star Wars games it seems,
EA is gonna stick to Battlefield, FIFA, Madden, and Star Wars games it seems,
ComputerBlue
Member
I'm saddened by this news, it may have been the worst ME game but it was still a pretty damn good ME game. Internet pile-on culture is just great.
GameAddict411
Member
At this point I really hope the franchises in development all do poorly so that EA dies. They have done enough damage to the gaming industry.
Alpha Phoenix
Member
The next Dragon Age is in development internally at BioWare Edmonton (their main office) and has been for at least a year and a half, alongside the new IP.
It's not officially confirmed, but it's hardly a secret anymore.
SomedayTheFire
Member
lmao jesus. No they haven't don't be so precious.
ROUGE_BLOCK
Member
Bud, I already said amen to that. You late to the party, mate.
The industry as whole needs to rollback these insane budgets and make smaller more dedicated projects which is why we have seen the advent of shared world shooters and MP only games this gen, at the same time people who play these games need to rollback expectations a bit. Least of all let's not forget there needs to be a focus on POLISHING up a project and not shipping out your beta phase.
SargerusBR
I love Pokken!
lol at this hyperbole
You don't put a popular AAA franchise that sells well on hiatus, especially if you are EA. Considering how long it takes to make games of this nature (MEA took 5 years), if it doesn't get started soon we probably won't see ME return until next decade, at best.
As an outsider looking in (since I never really got into Mass Effect as a whole) it is unfortunate to see this happen. I don't want to think that the game was so bad that Mass Effect as a series is dead and buried, but a lot was riding on this to succeed when it was... Ehh...
But seriously though, I'm losing my trust in EA at this point. Not just for Mass Effect, but it feels like they either mishandle their games, or really do focus all of their attention on "EA Sports" more than the non-sports games. I know that for Star Wars Battlefront 2, there is zero confidence in thinking that they can deliver it. Would like to be proven wrong of course, but I can't bring myself to give EA any benefit of doubts anymore with how things have played out for them as of late with Star Wars Battlefront, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, and now Mass Effect.
But seriously though, I'm losing my trust in EA at this point. Not just for Mass Effect, but it feels like they either mishandle their games, or really do focus all of their attention on "EA Sports" more than the non-sports games. I know that for Star Wars Battlefront 2, there is zero confidence in thinking that they can deliver it. Would like to be proven wrong of course, but I can't bring myself to give EA any benefit of doubts anymore with how things have played out for them as of late with Star Wars Battlefront, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, and now Mass Effect.