Flagship series rudderless after Bioware merger announced
Well the dust has had plenty of time to settle over the misshapen cluster that is Mass Effect Andromeda. Months after the March 2017 release of what was expected to be the first in a new chapter of the critically acclaimed science-fiction RPG, enough patches and mild to positive reviews from players have managed to staunch the bleeding.
Despite the number of improvements made, fans of the Mass Effect series have been disappointed by the lack of DLC for single player as well as transparency and indicators that any sort of content would be heading their way. A highly irregular phenomena seeing as how much of EA’s business model focuses on the delayed gratification of season pass content to further storylines and to provide a consistent form of revenue.
While recent reviews of Andromeda have improved, it will be an uphill battle for the developers. This is partly because of regular patches for gameplay/graphical bugs and the recent announcement by CEA & Director of EA, Andrew Wilson. In a recent transcript from the CEO, Wilson stated that, “we [EA] are merging BioWare Montreal with Motive Studios.” The CEO went on to highlight recent releases by Frostbite and Dice studios while reiterating Bioware’s continued role within EA’s business model (read the Q1, 2018 transcript here).
Despite Andromeda’s lackluster debut and recent personnel shifts, EA seems to have had a strong first quarter. This according to Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson who stated in July that, “Q1 was an outstanding quarter, with thriving player communities in our top franchises like Battlefield, our EA SPORTS portfolio, Star Wars, and The Sims continuing to grow our network and drive our digital business.”
So while fans of these titles may rest easy knowing more attention will come their way, Andromeda players, many of whom spent a considerable amount of money to own the non-standard edition at launch, are left to wonder at how such a successful series could suddenly be left out to dry.
It’s unclear how Bioware intends to proceed with the series but don’t fall completely into despair. Fans of the multiplayer can expect additional free content on a somewhat regular basis as well as ios extensions of the core game.
