Did BW/EA Even Plan DLC in the 1st Place?

No.

They certainly did. The epilogue of MEA is there just to set up a DLC.

But Andromeda failed hard.

If the game is going to be left in this state fine. But otherwise if no sequel comes out in like 5 years time we might be looking at another semi reboot.

Conjecture, speculation and more conjecture.  No one here really knows the sales figures for ME:A, let alone can make any estimate of the current size of the single player active player base.  People keep pulling all these impressions out of their arse... and that's a big part of the problem... combined with an total inability for many of them to hold their wad.  They build themselves and everyone else around them into a frenzy based on their personal "crystal ball" - particularly here with the negative nancies since were have a few troll shites here who just revel in making "timed" negative disruption threads that prey on the worry of fans. 

So, here's my conjecture (based on past experiences with strikes and how they ultimately put pressure on industries to settle).  I strongly suspect that any final DLC decision is pending resolution of the voice actors strike.  I strongly suspect that, should the strike drag on, we will see many more projects from AAA companies being put "on hiatus" and a general industry slow down as the projects that were exempt from the strike eventually finish what they are allowed to under the "unstruck" listing.  Once the strike is settled, I suspect we will see a lot of announcements about projects being reactivated.  In my opinion, ME:A's SP DLC is just one of the first that got affected.  (I suspect the DLC is affected, because I suspect it involves signing a bunch of new VAs who were not signed to the original game... i.e. the Quarians). 

If no DLC was even planned, then I suspect the strike played havoc with them getting a second game into production quickly.  These days, it's not unheard of for "trilogy-type" movie series to make the 2 or 3 instalments simultaneously.  Back to the Future 2 &3, as I recall, we made essentially together.  However, perhaps MEA2 didn't sign with SAG-AFTRA until after February 2015... meaning it didn't make the unstruck titles list... so maybe it's the strike causing things to be put "on hiatus."  Perhaps some facets of an MEA DLC didn't meet the criteria as an "unstruck" title... or they have particular VA's that they want for new voices in the DLC (i.e. quarians) who are supporting the strike and won't sign even though they could.

The real point here is that no one really knows what is going on.  My guess is as good as anyone else's here.  ANY of us might be proven wrong down the road.  The smart money is really just in waiting to see what eventually happens.

In my opinion and EA's. 

Nowhere does EA say that it's a failure.

At this point, when people have noted EA's statements on Andromeda and have analyzed the sales, anyone still claiming the game failed just cannot be rationalized with. They have proven their refusal to ignore everything that proves them wrong, just because they desperately want a game that wasn't exactly what they wanted to be a "failure".

Welp.... Lemme put on my tin foil hat and surmise that more than likely building dlc for this game was thought out before hand and was contingent on how well Andromeda sold. Or that they used the resources from this studio and moved them over to Anthem in the hopes that it will be received better than Andromeda and hopefully not be a failure such as SWTOR.
The "Cannot comment on future projects yet which included specifically Single Player DLC" has become the norm as of late for Bioware and that's fine and all as a business aspect for them,but it's starting to slowly erode my faith in Bioware and what ever their future projects that that they have in store.

It appears that they are becoming less of the "Shut up and take my money " studio for me since they are no longer dangling the carrot on the stick in front of me. You see I am that type of person that likes to know what the road map is for any of my favorite games and what they have in store for me. And by not letting me know what will be on the horizon I just lose interest and surmise that they really do not have a plan and just make it up as they go along and that's when I just look else where for my needs.

And as far as Anthem is concerned it simply does not interest me and the new Dragon Age game is just now in the early start up phase which means that Bioware wont have a title that interest me until around 2020-2022 time frame. And that's bad for both EA/Bioware and for me and people like me since they wont be making a dime off of us.

They wouldn't when there's multiplayer packs to be sold. $$$

It's EA. The very first board meeting where the lead developers pitched the game, the first question EA execs asked them was "so how much DLC can we make for this".

The question isn't whether it was planned in the first place, the question is how have those plans changed since the game was released.

I think its more likely that we get a 'MEA2' that leaves 'A' (the arc of it) at that and opens into transition to something else, than a more outright 'semi-reboot' that MEA was.

Even with MEA DLC potential, there's probably too much hanging and too much set up to not act on it. But I can see a distancing from any internal hopes or light planing of a 3+ game arc.

Example: Kett. Few love em. Some like em. Some dislike em. Some hate em. But they're too set up to utterly abandon. Even ME3 in sidelining Collectors, did so after effectively ending their supposed total threat anyway and bringing them back as a MP token. I can see one more game with Kett as even major enemy faction, but not the primary one nor in the same more generic-feeling format. In a sense, becoming Geth of the 'A' arc (and again, 2 games?), of importance but a shifting and still growing but not as primary one, while something else takes precedence.

Same goes for anything else. Tempest? Ai? Helius? Angara? And so on. All additions to the ME universe, for sure (despite some trashing them), but not ones that need a focus for three or more games, or the same focus for two games. They didn't announce a trilogy for a reason - this doesn't mean no trilogy (or beyond) wasn't considered, but it does mean that they likely wanted to be more malleable with expectations.

I can certainly see a second Andromeda occur, even called 'MEA2' outright, and done as an 'apology' (but still major) game between Anthem and its updates (and DA4), and an Anthem 2 (if Anthem successful). The 'wow okay they got it right and understand what we want, and I'm excited at what they're indicating will come next' game, done so to set the franchise back on track. Release early 2020s (2020 very earliest and unlikely).
Some think that as long as they follow up on MEA then ME won't be on track. Whatever to them.

As for 'franchise on (eternal) ice'? No clear indications of this. Possible, much more possible than before MEA release, but not something I give a lot of serious consideration. Clickbaiters, trolls, and genuine haters can do what they will.

Summary: MEA was made to be the start of a journey, potentially a long one. I think this journey may still occur, but be cut short in an attempt to fix the course of the franchise. If a second MEA game does happen and is super successful, maybe only then would we see more of Ryder etc, but the game won't presume it as much as MEA does.


I think they've set up too much to totally change gears. In fact they've set up more than ever, and even DA2 could be said to have more of an actual (if necessary; and it wasn't since we see him in DAI and well, there's theories about more) conclusion for Hawke than MEA does for Ryder. I will be rather surprised if they totally drop the MEA stuff, and still a little surprised if we don't have Ryder as protagonist again, and a very surprised (though not totally) if we never see a ME game again.

That's something you have no idea is true or not. All I can see is how hard they're shilling multiplayer at this point still, and that leads me to believe that - even if the player base is small, they're spending a lot of money.