Article: Mass Effect fans feel abandoned by BIoWare after Anthem reveal

For all the vitriolic reactions that they got in the last decade there was also a fair number of people who bought, played and loved their game. And that still does. The one and only problem is that they are not probably enough or, to say better, that there is another market where they can pick up more players. They are not so sensitive. If ME:A sold 10 milion copies they wouldn't give a **** about complaints, criticism and bad press. They are just going where money is.

And if you think that it is only EAware, well, don't worry: I want to see people's reaction when CDPR will confirm that Cyberpunk 2077 is going to have MP.

This article at Forbes kind of gets to the center of what's wrong, other than the apparent bad PR.

www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/06/11/anthem-is-eas-answer-to-destiny-and-that-doesnt-make-any-sense/

It just seems weird and a waste of this kind/type of talent to have BW make this type of game when EA has other studios on hand Titanfall, etc. to do this job. We don't have a great many developers out there that put out high quality RPG's like BW, so it seems out of place to say the least.

And having the recent mess with MEA only makes it stand out more.

All they need to add to Anthem that will make it just fine for me is gear good enough to do the story from just solo (I'll pay premium membership for it, no problems) and 2-4 BG1 style good looking cohorts with good sound sets and a short backstory. Honestly, that Paul guy, if he was an NPC with 40 or so lines of VA, that would be good enough. SWTOR was most like that after you did main story, and it was cool for a few months. Really, it's not that much to add, and fingers crossed they will. Obviously, won't satisfy peeps who need romances and in-depth development, but I just want AI companionship to relieve solitude and not have to group up with people.

Bioware's long-standing fans who really like multiplayer, IMO, only exist because of the ME3 ending and the MP that was a pleasant surprise.

I ranted long and hard about no MP in ME3, it was something that to me seemed an obvious division of effort, resources time, etc that could​ have been better spent making the SP game better.

And.... I was right! I became a huge MP fan, love that game, and would gladly live in an alternate universe where ME3 was not rushed, was polished to blinding brilliance, and 3MP never existed.

I am not the Arbiter of who is/is not a True Bioware Fan ™️, because the fanbase has shifted with the shifted focus of the games and their devs. People like games like Skyrim and DAI... I will never fucking understand them in a million years, but people can like whatever they want.

I will say that Anthem is the final proof that Bioware is now a rEAperized husk, the assimilation complete. Their website used to say something something story-driven RPG something something. Now this, which is definitely not an RPG. The Bob Dylan of gaming.... Hubris off the charts.

Abandoned? I haven't been a fan since ME3, even though I bought MEA, so no.

Now if they drop DA, then I'll feel abandoned.

All in all, I think the quality of Bioware's stories has being going downhill for years, for whatever reasons. Between that, MP pressure from EA and political self-censoring, I think they're past their zenith in terms of creativity, especially in making good SP rpgs with compelling stories. DA has been bracing itself against the trend to some degree, we'll see how long it can hold the line. Suffice it to say I'm not really optimistic. And if they continue along EA's primary path and make mostly MP-focused games, they'll have lost me for good. Maybe not from here for a while longer, but certainly from their games.

Micro-transactions are now king for EA. They will tailor every game so that people can buy that snazzy new armor color to do the same thing over and over in mindless battledome gameplay (ref MEA MP). Making a new armor color is alot easier than producing an entire DLC world and storyline for an immersive RPG.

I feel abandoned because they abandoned the franchise. They were going to make this game anyway.

Though now that you mention it, if they weren't making this game, MEA would have been made by the A-team, bad press wouldn't have poisoned the future for the series, and it would be living on.

It's clear BioWare is ignoring their old fan base who feel frustrated and abandoned and embracing a new fanbase of Destiny lovers. I say this watching things like the new Anthem subreddit, filled with mostly Destiny sub-redditors, already has had several BioWare posters over the 24 hours since the game's reveal. Compared to the total absence in the Mass Effect sub. BioWare devs are happily and eagerly chatting away with fanbois and Destiny players across twitter and facebook, but immediately blocking anyone that brings up concerns related to Mass Effect and its future. I'm not talking about rabid haters spewing insults here, I'm talking about people asking questions like those posted in the article above. Questions like "With the current focus on Anthem, does that mean there will be no ME DLC?" get people blocked.

This isn't conjecture, I'm literally witnessing this happening right now talking to several huge Mass Effect fans.

Shocking that so many feel abandoned.

They're not abandoning anything. They're moving to where market research says the money is. I can't understand people getting all emotional about a profit oriented company not fufilling their pet peeves.

Yes, I'm disappointed how MEA turned out to be, but they owe us nothing beyond a playable game. Which they provided with the latest patches. If one doesn't like that game, that's a different issue and I have to deal with that mysself. But I'm a realist, not someone getting all romantic or emotional over it. It's just what it is. If they feel like releasing DLCs will net them a profit, they will do them. If not then not.

Hmm, it does rather seem like Mass Effect was pushed to the backseat so Anthem could ride up front. Can't help but feel a little bitter about that.

That said, 1) I am biased as I don't generally play MP games and 2) I don't really know enough about Anthem or the future of Andromeda to make a proper judgement yet. I'll have to just wait and see.

To be fair, I'm not sure that those actual fans that enjoyed the game could have stopped all the criticism.  Some tried and some people certainly were just not willing to listen to anyone who suggested that the company stepping away from the ME IP was a possibility if the level of hate didn't get dialed down even a little bit.  It's been an impossible situation overall... so now the company is stepping away from the IP... not perhaps what some of the people complaining in hateful ways actually wanted... but what we're stuck with nonetheless.  Badgering the company further is certainly not going to get them to reverse this decision and revive ME at this point in time.  However, those actual fans who enjoyed the game do have a game they enjoy that now runs much better than it did at release.  What's done is done.