New Mass Effect: Enhanced Pictures And Artworks (Updated)

BioWare Kills Mass Effect Andromeda DLC, No More Single-Player Patches

When Mass Effect Andromeda launched, the game racked up very mixed reviews. We’ve written about the game’s launch issues and the behind-the-scenes reason why things went wrong throughout its development cycle. BioWare always had a very tough act to follow, especially given that the sequel to the original ME trilogy was going to kick off adventure in a whole new galaxy, with new races and characters, and, for the first time in three games, a new protagonist. The game took fire for poor animations and image quality overall, but the bigger flaw, storywise, was that it wasn’t particularly good. That’s not to say nobody liked it, by any means, but Mass Effect 3 had an 89 rating from critics and a 5.6 rating from fans, with the latter likely due to the ending in particular. Mass Effect Andromeda doesn’t even hit that level, with a 72 from critics and a 5.0 from fans. (Both were a sharp decline from ME2, with its 94 / 8.8 rating).
MEA-Face

The game took a fair bit of fire for its “interesting” animations.

Now, BioWare has announced that Patch 1.10 will be the last update for the game. The blog post reads, in part:

Early in development, we decided to focus Mass Effect: Andromeda’s story on the Pathfinder, the exploration of the Andromeda galaxy, and the conflict with the Archon. The game was designed to further expand on the Pathfinder’s journey through this new galaxy with story-based APEX multiplayer missions and we will continue to tell stories in the Andromeda Galaxy through our upcoming comics and novels, including the fate of the quarian ark.

Our last update, 1.10, was the final update for Mass Effect: Andromeda. There are no planned future patches for single-player or in-game story content. In the coming weeks, our multiplayer team will provide details of their ongoing support and upcoming content, including new multiplayer missions, character kits, and what’s in store for N7 Day.

We appreciate all the millions of people who came with us to the Andromeda galaxy. We hope to see you again in the Mass Effect universe.

That last line sounds nearly poignant and it’s not clear if it’s meant as an appeal to fans to play the multiplayer version of the game, or a request to the Powers That Be at BioWare to approve future titles that take place in Andromeda rather than the Milky Way. EA has previously cheered Mass Effect Andromeda’s impact on its own bottom line, claiming that full PC game and console downloads generated $111M in net sales, 32% higher than the year before. This was specifically called out as being driven by ME:A.

And yet. After roundly singing the game’s praises in July, EA has no use for its DLC in August. Given this, it’s not clear whether the entire Mass Effect franchise is iced, or if EA attempts to try again with a new game rather than push DLC out for a title whose overall sales it was reportedly unhappy with. In the modern era of remakes, re-imaginings, and sequels that retread very familiar ground cough, cough, The Force Awakens, it wouldn’t really surprise us to see a new Mass Effect set in the Milky Way and featuring Commander Shepherd — if, that is, BioWare can construct a semi-coherent plot as to what happened next.