• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Looks like EA access early access backfired badly for Mass Effect: Andromeda

hydrophilic attack said:
is selling roughly the same as ghost recon now a good target for the newest mass effect to aim for?

talk about lowered expectations, you guys are pretty much proving my point
Click to expand...

I think you are trolling at this point or are completely unaware of games sales. ME3 is the best selling Bioware game to date. It sold around 6M units LTD. We know that GRW is the second best Tom Clancy debut in the UK. That puts it only behind The Division whose sales in one year surpassed ME3 LTD sales. I guess what I am saying is that you are either underestimating GRW or greatly overestimating the popularity of Mass Effect.
 
hydrophilic attack said:
So based on reviews and player impressions, Mass Effect Andromeda seems to be a bit of a dud. It seems to me as if Bioware/EA was aware of this fact and wanted to cover it by employing the Fallout 4 launch strategy: give almost no information pre-launch so that pre-orders and pre-release hype give you good sales before people realize that your game isn’t great. It is a bit shitty and anti-consumer, but it does give nice financial numbers for the closest financial report, and may give any executives involved a nice little bonus. It may do long-term damage to the brand, but I guess gamers are sheep with the memory of a goldfish, and four years from now you will probably have moved on in your career anyway, so notmyproblem.jpg

But in this particular case, this approach seems to have backfired. See, EA has gone all-in on their EA/Origin access service where they want you to pay a subscription fee every month to access their back library of mediocre games. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all, and it’s probably really good value if you like their games, but for whatever reason it seems the people in charge of the service thought they needed something more to increase the perceived value of the service. The solution they came up with was the preview program where they delay all of their games for everyone who is not a subscriber, which is a bit anti-consumer, but I guess it brings in the dough, so it’s all good from their perspective. Also, if your game is good, it can help increase the hype, see Battlefield 1. But not in this case apparently. Impressions from the EA early access period were really bad and quickly took the wind out of the sales of the pre-release hype. Normally, a AAA game getting so many reviews below 8, would lead to a lot of angry comments from fans who haven’t yet played the game. But not this time, when everyone had already seen the game for what it was.

So it seems EA wanting to combine two anti-consumer practices at once (hide your game from consumers before launch and hold back games for non-subscribers for a week) backfired badly. I guess the conclusion to draw is that you need to choose one anti-consumer strategy to employ at a time. Seems like in trying to do both they bit off a bit more than they could chew.

For clarity: I'm talking about how being on Early Access may have affected this game and the Mass Effect IP going forward, not about how EA/Origin Access subscription numbers may have been temporarily affected

So how do you think EA will react to this to prevent similar events in the future? Will they start polishing their games properly before release? Or perhaps revamp the Early Access program to prevent stuff like this from happening again? Double down on pre-order incentives? What do you think?
Click to expand...

I bought the game..
 
hydrophilic attack said:
So based on reviews and player impressions, Mass Effect Andromeda seems to be a bit of a dud.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that 7.5 metacritic is really looking like a piece of shit... And using Customer reviews as evidence is not a good source for your argument as it's proven to be primarily made up of reviewers who never even touched the game.
 
Man, being on the West Coast sucks sometimes, I feel like I miss all the hottest of takes when they're posted.

EA Access has been great across the board. I'd love to see EA's stats on user interactions.

I know I've given them more money (besides the subscription) due to it.
 
hydrophilic attack said:
i'm not really interested in shooters, car games and sports

unravel, dead space and possibly skate are the only games i would consider to be worthy of my time, considering my personal tastes
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
I think whats a bit lost in all the poor animation memes and over-reaction about how well it's reviewed is that ME:A is actually a good game. I think *most* who loved ME1 will enjoy this game.

I'm not saying that the writing and animations aren't bad, but that it doesn't make this a bad game. It does have it's redeeming qualities.
 
I think it made a significant amount of people cancel their preorders and it helped turn the disastrous animations into memes
 
Lime said:
I think it made a significant amount of people cancel their preorders and it helped turn the disastrous animations into memes
Click to expand...

The animations are not always that bad, though. It's not even close to being as bad as the meme-fest would lead you to believe.
 
So people really spin early access as "game delayed for non subscribers"?

Christ almighty.

I mean, if that's the case then aren't all games delayed? I mean, they go gold and we don't get to play them loooong after that.
 
Also, I'm not sure how EA access is a non-consumer friendly practice?

Products are often street dated to ensure they have made it through the distribution pipeline in time. Releasing a digital only version in preview a week early lines up with the physical copies making it through distribution channels.

The idea that they are "holding up" the release to do Access previews does not fly with how distribution works.
 
Lime said:
Definitely, but my point is that they still appeared representative of the product.
Click to expand...

Which is sad. People see these hilarious memes and funny compilation videos and just write the entire thing off. But the reality is that this is not representative of the product on the whole, yet is being used as the only 'impressions' that count.
 
Whether or not it'll have a tangible impact on sales remains to be seen, but it definitely impacted the way people viewed the game pre-release. Anyone and everyone interested in this game knows about the animations and writing quality. I'm more interested to see what they do in response to Andromeda's middling reception.
 
Collingwood said:
So people really spin early access as "game delayed for non subscribers"?

Christ almighty.

I mean, if that's the case then aren't all games delayed? I mean, they go gold and we don't get to play them loooong after that.
Click to expand...

Just look at Uncharted 4 and FFXV, those games were available here in Peru several weeks before official release lol.
 
I just hope it sells well enough for another one to be made.

Initial shock at animations aside, I'm absolutely loving it. 15 hours in and I know I'm getting 50+ of pure pleasure out of this. Probably more. I have no glitches/bugs thus far, but even that wouldn't deter me now. I'm just too much of a ME junkie and this is so much what I wanted.

I don't wanna spoil anything, but there are key story moments and things I see that I just love. I love "living" these worlds. Sure, I'd prefer it be as immersive as TW3, which really set a bar for me, but it's still great. We'll see what 2077 can do. Shame so many people dislike it, and so many people love TO dislike it and see it do poorly, but that's the gaming community.

Hopefully Bioware Montreal isn't really in trouble/under poor management, but if that's the case I hope they resolve all their issues and continue making RPGs. DA 2 was mediocre for me, and DA:I wasn't at all what I expected, but I still got 50 hours out of it. DA:O remains one of my fave RPGs of all time, as do ME1 and ME2. ME3 was still great to me despite flaws. ME:A will be right up there.

edit: And the EA: Access was worth it for me. $5 to save $10 and get it 5 days early. Got to test Battlefront to boot, so that was a cool bonus.
 
If EA pulled mass effect andromeda from the trial period people would be saying "oh no something is wrong" so it would have raised just as many questions.
 
ironcreed said:
Regardless of how this game fares, I will tell you this much. I am never going to allow myself to be swept up by negative internet meme-fests surrounding a game again. Let's just say that I am glad that I kept an open mind and stuck with my pre-order.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've long been the same here.

I just seem to have lower standards for games, movies, tv shows etc. than the average miserable forum goer/internet dweller that seems to hate most things.

*shrugs*

I mean sure, I wish this was incredible, a big step forward for the franchise and even improved on the high bar set by games like Witcher 3 in the years since ME3. But I'm enjoying it quite a bit for what it is despite it being well under that.

To each their own of course. I have time and funds to play most games I want so that makes it easier for me to play "average" games and not just the cream of the crop. I'd be pickier if I was more limited on either. But I'm through the Q1 games I cared to play (still exploring some in Zelda, but did all the story/memories content and don't really care how much other stuff I finish--already over 60 hours) so I was ready for this to come out.
 
hydrophilic attack said:
i mean i literally said in the op that ea/origin access probably is a really good deal for the kind of gamer who enjoys ea games
Click to expand...

Yea you said this right after dismissing everything ea access has to offer as 'mediocre'. Thats basically like saying.....i don't like the taste of dog shit but if you like the taste of dog shit thats fine....just seems like you lack the ability to see quality in a game you may personally not enjoy, which ultimately makes your opinion on games irrelevant IMO.
 
dmaul1114 said:
Yeah, I've long been the same here.

I just seem to have lower standards for games, movies, tv shows etc. than the average miserable forum goer/internet dweller that seems to hate most things.

*shrugs*

I mean sure, I wish this was incredible, a big step forward for the franchise and even improved on the high bar set by games like Witcher 3 in the years since ME3. But I'm enjoying it quite a bit for what it is despite it being well under that.

To each their own of course. I have time and funds to play most games I want so that makes it easier for me to play "average" games and not just the cream of the crop. I'd be pickier if I was more limited on either. But I'm through the Q1 games I cared to play (still exploring some in Zelda, but did all the story/memories content and don't really care how much other stuff I finish--already over 60 hours) so I was ready for this to come out.
Click to expand...

Here is the thing. Not every game has to be some grand 10/10 masterpiece in order to be simply good. Not every game is going to reach that bar and that is okay, as plenty of good-great games never do. It's just unfortunate that once negative hyperbole goes viral on a game, it's like a snowball effect and those memes are used as the ultimate source of what defines that game and so many ride only on that bandwagon with blinders on to any positive point of view. It's actually quite ludicrous when you think about it.
 
This thread is weird, almost like a conspiracy theory.

They didn't hide the game at all, and there were multiple trailers covering a lot of things.

Also, the mere fact that it's on Origin Access means they weren't hiding the game.
 
HP_Wuvcraft said:
Ah, okay, so this is a troll thread.
Click to expand...

no

just like sales is the objective measure of quality in an open market, so too is replies, in the open market of ideas that is neogaf. after all, the only thing we will leave behind after our deaths is our ideas

i have posted more about how to objectively determine someone's quality as a neogaf thread maker here
 
hydrophilic attack said:
no

just like sales is the objective measure of quality in an open market, so too is replies, in the open market of ideas that is neogaf. after all, the only thing we will leave behind after our deaths is our ideas

i have posted more about how to objectively determine someone's quality as a neogaf thread maker here
Click to expand...

.... you really should not measure your personal worth by how many replies your thread on an internet forum has.
 
ironcreed said:
The animations are not always that bad, though. It's not even close to being as bad as the meme-fest would lead you to believe.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I haven't noticed any nearly as bad as the memes yet. Though I'm very early (though past one part that had bad running animation that I couldn't recreate).

Honestly, I don't see how this is a bad thing for consumers though (I know that's not the OP's point, but a silly thread focus shift above). It would have been worse for them to have not had a trial or demo, along with the day before review embargo, and had pissed off lots of people bothered by jank, lackluster writing etc. who wasted their money on it.

It definitely cost them some sales from gamers hardcore enough to have access or be exposed to the footage and memes on sites like this. However, the blowback may have been even worse if more people bothered by it had spent $50+ on it and felt ripped off instead of just skipping it and mostly having moved on. The OT would probably be far more full of bitching and shit posts if the trial hadn't gotten that out of the system so to speak and more people were pissed about having bought it clueless of the problems.
 
dmaul1114 said:
It definitely cost them some sales from gamers hardcore enough to have access or be exposed to the footage and memes on sites like this. However, the blowback may have been even worse if more people bothered by it had spent $50+ on it and felt ripped off instead of just skipping it and mostly having moved on. The OT would probably be far more full of bitching and shit posts if the trial hadn't gotten that out of the system so to speak and more people were pissed about having bought it clueless of the problems.
Click to expand...

This is an interesting point I hadn't considered
 
hydrophilic attack said:
no

just like sales is the objective measure of quality in an open market, so too is replies, in the open market of ideas that is neogaf. after all, the only thing we will leave behind after our deaths is our ideas

i have posted more about how to objectively determine someone's quality as a neogaf thread maker here
Click to expand...

I don't agree with this at all. The easiest way to get replies on gaf is to post something ridiculous, stupid or offensive.
 
As you said OP they held back info to get those pre orders so Im sure it will sell good first weeks anyway.
But it will be intresting to see if it will have legs.
 
ironcreed said:
Here is the thing. Not every game has to be some grand 10/10 masterpiece in order to be simply good. Not every game is going to reach that bar and that is okay, as plenty of good-great games never do. It's just unfortunate that once negative hyperbole goes viral on a game, it's like a snowball effect and those memes are used as the ultimate source of what defines that game and so many ride only on that bandwagon with blinders on to any positive point of view. It's actually quite ludicrous when you think about it.
Click to expand...

Agree. It's really just an internet thing though. Plenty of movies, TV shows etc. get shat on and memed to death on forum and still make tons of money, get great ratings etc.

Gaming is a little tougher as so much of the base is active online. You don't see nearly as many poor or even medicore reviewed games selling millions. You see a lot more 60-70% Rotten Tomatoes or Meta Critc score movies being hits than you do games in those ranges for instance, which is unfortunate and has made it really tough for mid-tier games that struggle to review above that or AAA games that end up just good rather than great.

Though again I get sticking to just the cream of the crop in genres one personally like if they're very strapped for time and/or cash and only play a few games a year. Not much reason to dive deeper into the ok to good games in that case.

Air Zombie Meat said:
I don't agree with this at all. The easiest way to get replies on gaf is to post something ridiculous, stupid or offensive.
Click to expand...

Or just be somone that posts OTs, Review threads, is the first to post major news etc. That's hardly "your ideas living on" when you just posted a topic designed to collect posts rather than generate discussion about your OP specifically.
 
Forsaken82 said:
Yeah, that 7.5 metacritic is really looking like a piece of shit... And using Customer reviews as evidence is not a good source for your argument as it's proven to be primarily made up of reviewers who never even touched the game.
Click to expand...

Even the good reviews read negative.

It's almost like people are still giving Mass Effect Andromeda higher scores than they really want to because of their fondness of the franchise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Paralives Early Access launches May 25th.
News 
5
154
Holammer replied
WarDogs Early Access Video (MP FPS)
3
206
TwinB242 replied
Everwind - Early Access Trailer
Trailer 
4
270
IbizaPocholo replied
Mass Effect Andromeda Actor Says "It Was Done Dirty" By EA And Fans
Opinion Game Dev  2 3 4
159
1K
KanKamAndNob replied
OutRune - Official Early Access Release Window Trailer
Trailer Indie 
0
94
IbizaPocholo replied
Top Bottom