So what exactly did Mass Effect Andromeda's huge budget get spent on?

They spent it on the liquor they'd no doubt binge on reading forums.

They had to make the game on a brand new engine (frostbite), that takes more money when you have to build a game from scratch rather than relying on a fondation already built for you.

Cora sex scene, they had experts on that from Naughty Dogs even! also big maps with nothing to do.

Actually that could have been a money saver. Think about it - EA had to pay to use the Unreal Engine 3. With Andromeda they get to use an in-house graphics engine since it was created by Dice. EA owns Dice. Therefore they'd be paying less by using the Frostbite Engine. Wouldn't they?

You're right.

And let's remember DAI didn't have the issues Andromeda did, and that was actually the first time Bioware worked with Frostbyte.

But they have to pay far more employees to remake the engine of the game, so that means they have to pay more developper for a longer time to just finish the game because you have no fondation at all. Adding the facts that Bioware montreal never worked with the engine before.

That said, It might be a saver of money for the next mass effect andromeda, where now they can rely on the foundation of the previous one, improve and build on it. And now they don't have to pay anyone to use the engine, contrarly to the unreal engine 3.


SofNascimento

« You're right.

And let's remember DAI didn't have the issues Andromeda did, and that was actually the first time Bioware worked with Frostbyte.”

That does not mean anything,

First of all, dragon age inquisition had far less cinematic conversation (which means that if the facial animation is bad you won’t see it since the camera is too far away) than mass effect Andromeda.

Second of all, DAI had Many characters that wear helmet or mask at all time, so that means far less works is needed on facial animation, like WAY LESS.

I don't think the $40 million figure (what's the source on that, by the way?) includes marketing costs for MEA, whereas the other numbers definitely seem to.

Marketing and voice actors

Cora is an expensive woman.

There is a video on Youtube that offers some great insight into the process of how the animations were handled previously from Bioware's much earlier titles to their current release; Mass Effect: Andromeda. One of the things he did mention is that the trilogy benefited from the usage of the same engine for all three games that allowed them to use older systems and improved upon them to produce a better product. With a new engine they no longer had that benefit and had to start from scratch. Tack on how animations are generated and one begins to see where things could easily have fallen apart. Does it excuse an unpolished release? No, but I think it is time people moved beyond that and look to the future of the title. 

I have nothing to really add to the discussion's topic relating to the budget and how it was spent. I would not even speculate as I myself am not knowledgeable enough to offer any relevant insight nor a valid argument. 


Edit: Found the video. How on point he is I can not say for sure but he seems knowledgeable. 

On Natali Dormer of course.