Was this all because of the animations backlash?

I don't think so. the game failed on several levels besides technical

No, they said in the blog post they always planned to continue the story via APEX missions.

The author of the quarian ark book also knew in advance her book would wrap up the quarian plot.

MEA SP DLC was never planned. The reception had nothing to do with it.

People need to stop acting like animations was the only thing wrong with the game.

Put MEA in the rear view mirror and hope DA4 is better.

It didn't help matters, certainly, but at it's root, this is all falls on Bioware Montreal and the studio's poor project management. Andromeda had a tonne of potential that was ultimately squandered, and all the best efforts to course correct in the final stretch couldn't right the ship entirely. I enjoyed the game well enough, but it isn't difficult to imagine what an outstanding game it could have been had the development, marketing and eventual release not been so wrought with drama.

Had the game been released in a state closer to the 1.10 patch version, it would likely have been better received, but ultimately, had the studio not suffered for so long under poor leadership, we would likely have gotten DLC, or at the very least, a more optimistic outlook for the franchise on the whole. Closing studios, book tie-ins (especially book tie-ins) don't happen overnight--these plans had to have been in motion for a while.

I seem to recall one of the Doctors (or maybe even Mike Laidlaw?)saying a long time ago that EA is the kind over overseer who will give you enough rope to hang yourself with. I think that's never been more evident than with MEA.

Hey! Welcome back!

The summer sucked. You missed a hoax which was seriously debunked by the unofficial forums (no one gave us credit. I'm fixing that crap come January... it's old news, but relevant to us.) but you also missed EA's middle finger to Andromeda fans. I hate EA.