Just a few short days ago, BioWare announced that their support for Mass Effect: Andromeda’s single player content was over. There’ll be no more patches, and no new content to be added. When you include the decision by EA to merge BioWare Montreal with Motive Studios, the only thing fans heard was the death knell for the Mass Effect universe. It means we have to ask the question, “Will Mass Effect rise again?”
It doesn’t take a genius to add two plus two to make four with this. Without saying it, it sounds like Mass Effect is over. The original trilogy plus their latest foray in the Andromeda will be it. BioWare dropped the ball with Andromeda. So this series, which so many fans around the world know inside-out and love, has come to an abrupt end. Maybe the question should be, “Can Mass Effect rise again?”
Despite the backlash regarding the animations, the feeling that the game was rushed, the lack of character depth and more, generally the Mass Effect communities online are not happy at this. Although reviews didn’t score it as highly as the original trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda still scored pretty highly. Check out our own review from back in April 2017. It feels like this universe, which has had so many people put so much time into, even in Andromeda, is ending with no closure. What is going to happen to the colonists and the Kett? What will happen to the Quarian Ark? Will they have another movie night? These are important questions that need answering.
There might be a flicker of hope yet. At Gamescom in Cologne, Patrick Söderlund, EA’s Executive Vice President was interviewed by Game Reactor, with Mass Effect being the topic. Firstly when asked about the criticism that was thrown Andromeda’s way he said:
“Well I think, my personal opinion is, I think that the game… I usually don’t do this, but this is one of those places where I feel like the game got criticised a little bit more than it deserved…as a whole, if you go in and you buy the game today with everything that’s in it today, I believe that that’s a game worth buying, personally.”
That kind of response is a given. He’s not going to come out and say “The game was terrible, people shouldn’t get it.” EA can still make money from sales of the game. However what he said next is what grabbed the attention of fans across the globe:
“Mass Effect as a franchise, that has such a big fanbase, and you know I’ve seen people saying ‘Oh, EA’s not making another Mass Effect’. I see no reason why we shouldn’t come back to Mass Effect. Why not? It’s a spectacular universe, it’s a loved [series], it has a big fanbase, and it’s a game that has done a lot for EA and for BioWare.”
Will Mass Effect rise again? If Patrick Söderlund has anything to say about it, the answer is yes. It seems that EA wants to learn from the mistakes in Andromeda, with Mr Söderlund’s final word being:
“What we need to be careful though of is, whenever we bring Mass Effect back again, we have to make sure that we bring it back in a really [relevant] way, and in a fresh, exciting place. That’s my job, and that’s Casey’s [Hudson] job, and BioWare and the Mass Effect team’s job, to figure out what that looks like, and that we don’t know yet, but we will.”
Judging from this, Mass Effect will be back again one day. Mistakes will be lessons and the next chapter will be a huge opportunity for redemption. However expect quite a wait whilst Anthem and Dragon Age games in development.
Do you want to see more Mass Effect? Do you feel the criticism went too far? Does the series deserves another chance? Let us know what you think in the comments!
