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[Kotaku] Mass Effect franchise is on hold, EA turned its makers a support studio

10K views 142 replies 61 participants last post by  TFL Replica 
#1 ·
Quote:
In the wake of BioWare's polarising Mass Effect: Andromeda, fans have wondered where the lauded sci-fi series will go next. The answer, according to people familiar with the studio, is nowhere - at least for the time being. BioWare has put Mass Effect on hiatus and turned Andromeda's developer, BioWare Montreal, into a support studio, according to four sources close to the company.
That doesn't mean there will never be another Mass Effect game, of course. It's unlikely that BioWare will kill the popular sci-fi franchise. But BioWare is letting Mass Effect sit for a while rather than putting staff on Andromeda's follow-up right away, those sources said.

Last month, a number of BioWare Montreal employees were transferred to the studio EA Motive, also based in Montreal, to work on Star Wars Battlefront 2. Those remaining at BioWare Montreal will help support BioWare's other games including the new intellectual property, code-named Dylan, which we expect the company to announce at E3. BioWare Montreal will also continue to patch and support Andromeda's multiplayer.

BioWare's main studio in Edmonton is heading up Dylan, while BioWare's other studio, in Austin, is also helping out with that game.

Sauce:
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/05/sources-bioware-montreal-downsized-mass-effect-put-on-ice-for-now/

I dont know where to start. There was no problem with the franchise the problem was the people who are abusing it. It is sad that Bioware will kill mass effect in time, slowly. Also according to the news, some of the staff was redirected to bf2s development.

Well, i just hope they were the ones who wrote drack, otherwise say goodbye to bf2 as well.
 
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#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alvarez View Post

Quote:
In the wake of BioWare's polarising Mass Effect: Andromeda, fans have wondered where the lauded sci-fi series will go next. The answer, according to people familiar with the studio, is nowhere - at least for the time being. BioWare has put Mass Effect on hiatus and turned Andromeda's developer, BioWare Montreal, into a support studio, according to four sources close to the company.
That doesn't mean there will never be another Mass Effect game, of course. It's unlikely that BioWare will kill the popular sci-fi franchise. But BioWare is letting Mass Effect sit for a while rather than putting staff on Andromeda's follow-up right away, those sources said.

Last month, a number of BioWare Montreal employees were transferred to the studio EA Motive, also based in Montreal, to work on Star Wars Battlefront 2. Those remaining at BioWare Montreal will help support BioWare's other games including the new intellectual property, code-named Dylan, which we expect the company to announce at E3. BioWare Montreal will also continue to patch and support Andromeda's multiplayer.

BioWare's main studio in Edmonton is heading up Dylan, while BioWare's other studio, in Austin, is also helping out with that game.

Sauce:
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/05/sources-bioware-montreal-downsized-mass-effect-put-on-ice-for-now/

I dont know where to start. There was no problem with the franchise the problem was the people who are abusing it. It is sad that Bioware will kill mass effect in time, slowly. Also according to the news, some of the staff was redirected to bf2s development.

Well, i just hope they were the ones who wrote drack, otherwise say goodbye to bf2 as well.
"There was no problem with the franchise the problem was the people who are abusing it."

Please explain.
 
#4 ·
I really don't see where the problem is with the future of Mass Effect as a franchise. A new game just came out and for whatever reason, EA is reallocating resources to other projects which happens all the time. I would rather see them let ME sleep for a while and focus on other games/new IPs, the last thing i want to see is a new ME game every year. Also, the issue of EA closing/eating up studios is another discussion all together.
 
#5 ·
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Originally Posted by Robenger View Post

Some legendary studios there !
 
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#6 ·
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Originally Posted by Robenger View Post

the dev team behind mass effect ruined themselves with their racist members and their SJW narratives. Had they hired based on skill and not diversity the game likely would have been great.
 
#8 ·
One more for EA's body count... Studios and Franchises.
 
#9 ·
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Originally Posted by fisher6 View Post

I really don't see where the problem is with the future of Mass Effect as a franchise. A new game just came out and for whatever reason, EA is reallocating resources to other projects which happens all the time. I would rather see them let ME sleep for a while and focus on other games/new IPs, the last thing i want to see is a new ME game every year. Also, the issue of EA closing/eating up studios is another discussion all together.
It's been 5 years since Mass Effect 3 and games generally take at least 3 years to make so getting an annual or even biennial game isn't a possibility here. Never was. I don't mind waiting 3 years if there was at least some DLC to look forward too. It doesn't look like there will be any at this point. Work on the next installment of a long running series generally starts development right after or even before the current game launches.
 
#10 ·
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Originally Posted by philhalo66 View Post

the dev team behind mass effect ruined themselves with their racist members and their SJW narratives. Had they hired based on skill and not diversity the game likely would have been great.
Although the racist part is a bit exaggerated since it's only one dude, I do agree on the SJW stuff. They've been trying too hard to be politically correct in both their studios and their games. In other words, they're simply catering to SJWs and that ultimately is an enormous limit on creative expression. This makes the game by default blatantly worse. An RPG cannot really be that interesting if it does not challenge the norm of the day in any way.
 
#12 ·
not surprised, i don't understand why they made so many changes. mass effect was a great formula already that sold really well.

the ending to mass effect 3 had some controversy, but really at the end of the day your sales have the final word.

when i read about all the crafting and bizarre controversy on this one i didn't wanna bother. People basically want to be captain picard when they suit up as sheppard, its not rocket science.
 
#13 ·
Who's fault is it? Is it publishers rushing projects, is it PM's that dont know how to prioritize, is it bad Game Designers making dumb choices wasting time? I personally feel that people put too much blame on the publisher and not enough on the Game Designers. Not the devlopers, but the guy who says, "we need to create one of those annoying tedious minigames for ____". Granted, Publishers are the ones to say, YOU MUST INCLUDE MULTIPLER!!!!!!, when they should just focus on the single-player gameplay. Mass-Effect... launch didnt go smooth, multiplayer, balance, story... They did some cool stuff, but man they did some dumb stuff. I personally fault the Designer for the faults of ME:A
 
#14 ·
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Originally Posted by Mrzev View Post

Who's fault is it? Is it publishers rushing projects, is it PM's that dont know how to prioritize, is it bad Game Designers making dumb choices wasting time? I personally feel that people put too much blame on the publisher and not enough on the Game Designers. Not the devlopers, but the guy who says, "we need to create one of those annoying tedious minigames for ____". Granted, Publishers are the ones to say, YOU MUST INCLUDE MULTIPLER!!!!!!, when they should just focus on the single-player gameplay. Mass-Effect... launch didnt go smooth, multiplayer, balance, story... They did some cool stuff, but man they did some dumb stuff. I personally fault the Designer for the faults of ME:A
Agreed.

I mean, really, is there anyone, anywhere, who heard about Andromeda and thought "Wow, a new Mass Effect game, in a new galaxy? That's awesome! I hope they bring back my favorite feature from the series, ME2's Planet Scanning!"
 
#15 ·
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Originally Posted by Mand12 View Post

Agreed.

I mean, really, is there anyone, anywhere, who heard about Andromeda and thought "Wow, a new Mass Effect game, in a new galaxy? That's awesome! I hope they bring back my favorite feature from the series, ME2's Planet Scanning!"
I personally liked the planet scanning. What they did with it, made it completly dumb. The HUGE delay for a dumb cutscene for next to no reward, your not even paying attention its just right click no alert, next... wait 1 miunte for stupid animation....

There was a lot more they could have done with it, and improve upon ME2. Kinda like how they took the MAKO from ME1 and did a great job with it. While people complained that there was no gun... odd yes... but it was a simple fix for the issue that ME3(?) where you just destroy everyone with that. I agree with that decision and it didnt bother me. The mining in ME:A was ok. I wish they went with an approach like Firefall where the Thumper spawns waves of Mobs and you need to defend it. Larger Thumper = harder mobs\waves. With the mining in ME:A, there should have been some visualization around it. It was rewards like planet scanning in ME:2, but a lot more tedious.
 
#16 ·
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Originally Posted by philhalo66 View Post

the dev team behind mass effect ruined themselves with their racist members and their SJW narratives. Had they hired based on skill and not diversity the game likely would have been great.
Yes, I remember when I played Mass Effect 3 the first time. The option to have an optional gay relationship turned me, the player, gay!

On a serious note, because these accusations get thrown around all the time, do you have literally any sources whatsoever that support BioWare's not hiring based on skill? Or is this all speculation you read from some gaming blog with the word "anger" or some variant in its title? There was exactly one dev who said some stupid stuff on Twitter (which given the Internet's reaction has been retroactively converted into hilarious stuff) who no longer works for BioWare.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NightAntilli View Post

Although the racist part is a bit exaggerated since it's only one dude, I do agree on the SJW stuff. They've been trying too hard to be politically correct in both their studios and their games. In other words, they're simply catering to SJWs and that ultimately is an enormous limit on creative expression. This makes the game by default blatantly worse. An RPG cannot really be that interesting if it does not challenge the norm of the day in any way.
I would argue it does challenge the norm. Because there's so much outrage about the mere presence of gay relationships and, in Andromeda, a (very poorly written) trans character, it's clear that it's challenging a good number of gamers' norms. Also keep in mind that "catering to SJWs" isn't even a thing outside of some really niche Indie titles. This is another baseless accusation that gets thrown around all the time whenever, like, a woman is in a game. Female soldiers in CoD WW2's multiplayer? Outrage and pandering to SJWs, nevermind that female characters have been in multiplayer since Ghosts, there was a female protagonist in an early CoD campaign, and nobody actually cares about historical accuracy in multiplayer until now.

You'd have a much stronger claim - really, a claim - if you didn't parrot this dumb meme.
 
#17 ·
No one is forcing the filler content down your throats. It's there if you want a trip down memory lane or just want a bit more to do. It took me 90 hours to complete it and I still didn't finish all of the filler. The main story line and loyalty quest are pretty solid. Most of the characters are a least somewhat interesting and the story isn't a complete bomb, so this general sentiment that the whole game is hot garbage feels like serious hyperbole to me. I enjoyed my time with it.
 
#18 ·
Didn't they do a similar thing with Dragon Age II when it had it's bad debut?

Also, people were always going to take their anger about the ME3 ending out on whatever ME title followed. Couple that with people looking at ME1 and 2 through seriously rose-colored glasses, Andromeda never stood a chance.

The really awkward animations didn't help either.
 
#19 ·
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Originally Posted by CynicalUnicorn View Post

Yes, I remember when I played Mass Effect 3 the first time. The option to have an optional gay relationship turned me, the player, gay!

On a serious note, because these accusations get thrown around all the time, do you have literally any sources whatsoever that support BioWare's not hiring based on skill?
1-When did he bring up homosexuality?
2-I think the lead facial animation guy was a cosplayer with no video game experience.
 
#20 ·
Who didn't see this coming, but the who were dumb enough to cling to the idea that Bioware lived through it's acquisition by EA?

Much can be said about poor hires(Manveer "i love** white people" Heir, Jennifer "hamburger" Hepler, cos-player turned animator, etc), the utter trash fan-fiction tier writing the studio has become accustomed to churning out...But I don't feel like writing an essay about the failings of some corporate prolefeed producer right now. Maybe later.

Edit: forgot the no cursing rule, my bad.
 
#21 ·
Um.... I get that it's kewl to hate on EA and all... but this is exactly what they needed to do. I really don't see anything particularly heinous in what EA is doing anyway, they didn't fire anyone. BM (lulz) stepped up to the free throw line and whiffed big time. Taking it away from them was the only correct move.

Probably means the series will revert back to something like ME4 and that is the last we'll ever see of Andromeda. I'm totally fine with that, but I get that some folks liked the new setting.

I'd gladly hand over $60 down the road for another ME game, just not in Andromeda.
 
#23 ·
Meh, I have already assume BW is a shell of it's former self. ME was done for me at ME3. Anything past that is just a cash grab using the branding of the ME universe.

If you think about it, there isn't much that ME story can continue in the Milky Way galaxy, since they effectively dealt with a galaxy wide changing event already, so there really isn't anything left. A new galaxy wide villain would just be either a former reaper or one of the sentient species. Nothing as big as the reaper invasion, so it would be kind of meh to go from a huge villain to some small time whatever. Let ME die. The only thing that made ME universe special was the reapers. Time for a new franchise.
 
#24 ·
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Originally Posted by starliner View Post

Meh, I have already assume BW is a shell of it's former self. ME was done for me at ME3. Anything past that is just a cash grab using the branding of the ME universe.

If you think about it, there isn't much that ME story can continue in the Milky Way galaxy, since they effectively dealt with a galaxy wide changing event already, so there really isn't anything left. A new galaxy wide villain would just be either a former reaper or one of the sentient species. Nothing as big as the reaper invasion, so it would be kind of meh to go from a huge villain to some small time whatever. Let ME die. The only thing that made ME universe special was the reapers. Time for a new franchise.
Yeah im pretty sure that the majority of original BW had left before or after ME2.
 
#25 ·
Why the hell do we care so much about a game? It's entertainment, are you not entertained? If not then go to steam and buy another interactive entertainment.
 
#26 ·
It's about time for Bioware to get shut down. That's the usual EA business model, they buy studios and franchises then milk them with rushed cash grabs, then they shut down the studio and buy a new one.
 
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