[Megathread] Mass Effect Andromeda

[Lahis]

Edit:
"Year-on-year growth was driven by the Mass Effect: Andromeda sales, captured in the quarter and by FIFA,” CFO Blake Jorgensen explains. “Digital net sales were $681 million, a new record for the first quarter, and up $113 million on the year-ago period. The increase reflects strength in live services, together with our mobile business. In addition, Mass Effect: Andromeda was a significant contributor. Full game PC and console downloads generated net sales of $111 million, 32% higher than last year. This was driven by Mass Effect: Andromeda sales captured in the quarter.”

EA didn't think it was a failure. Just not worth further pursuit while they have other IPs to test.

Wasn't that just a comparison in turnovers to last year when EA had fuckall releases in the same period?

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A few guys is still far from "no support". They still have a content release schedule and are sticking to it. They have even said they are looking into some basic improvements players are requesting. Looking into new improvements is "new development. So again by your own words it isn't a failure.

Where are the new maps? Characters? Assets?


I don't see them ever putting any actual effort in it.

[Deleted]

What specs do you have? ME3 is old Unreal 3 game, Andromeda is fresh Frostbite game.

GeForce GTX 770, Intel Core i5 3570, 8 GB RAM.

Quite on the low end or bare minimum for MEA as far as I know. I was just surprised at how bad the game ran and looked. Usually just dropping to low graphics makes games run smooth and look quite bad but in my experience it still is twitchy and the graphics are so jagged they aren't very pleasing to the eyes.

But if they run different engines that could explain why this old timer handled ME3 with grace and MEA was like looking at a close-up of a turd. Time to upgrade it seems.

Torilla tavataan!

[Lahis]

GeForce GTX 770, Intel Core i5 3570, 8 GB RAM.

Quite on the low end or bare minimum for MEA as far as I know. I was just surprised at how bad the game ran and looked. Usually just dropping to low graphics makes games run smooth and look quite bad but in my experience it still is twitchy and the graphics are so jagged they aren't very pleasing to the eyes.

But if they run different engines that could explain why this old timer handled ME3 with grace and MEA was like looking at a close-up of a turd. Time to upgrade it seems.

Torilla tavataan!

CPU is propably good, I have i7-2600K and can run the game fine.

I have double the RAM and the real difference is the GTX 1070.

Andromeda is much more demanding than ME3. Andromeda is made on current engine for current tech, ME3 was made on 8 year old engine (as of the games release) on 7 year old hardware (XB360, on ME3's release)

[Deleted]

CPU is propably good, I have i7-2600K and can run the game fine.

I have double the RAM and the real difference is the GTX 1070.

Andromeda is much more demanding than ME3. Andromeda is made on current engine for current tech, ME3 was made on 8 year old engine (as of the games release) on 7 year old hardware (XB360, on ME3's release)

That's probably it. When ME3 came out my machine was an year old 1500e behemoth especially compared to the games that were coming out. There was nothing that didn't play on ''laser ultra madness'' level like a charm. I didn't even realize ME3 came out such a long time ago. Goddamned 5 years. I kinda excpected MEA to be like ME3+ but the reality is harsher. Luckily they approved my Origin refund. I'll have to juice up before giving MEA a go. ME123 we're some of the best gaming I've ever done.

Gotta upgrade this old timer. The world has moved on.

[rhorle]

Where are the new maps? Characters? Assets? I don't see them ever putting any actual effort in it.

Read the link I posted earlier https://www.masseffect.com/news/mass...in-multiplayer

"n the coming months, we’re introducing three new character kits to Mass Effect: Andromeda’s multiplayer. "

[Diaspar]

A few guys is still far from "no support". They still have a content release schedule and are sticking to it. They have even said they are looking into some basic improvements players are requesting. Looking into new improvements is "new development. So again by your own words it isn't a failure.

Just stop it. You're starting to sound worse than the people on those unofficial Bioware forums, who were in so much denial they even questioned the wording in the cancellation message! Do you realise in how much denial a person has to be, to state that "There are no planned future patches for single-player or in-game story content." (source) means that Bioware is done with patches, but DLC might still happen (which of course it won't, source)? Do you understand how disconnected from reality a person has to be to think that way?

That is how you're sounding right now. Andromeda was not a good deal for Bioware or for EA. Any support it might receive will be minimal and done by whoever EA throws to work on a dead-end project. Any future Mass Effect games will try to distance themselves from Andromeda and that's it.

You might have enjoyed the game and that's fine. I played the 10 hour trial and while I wasn't amazed, I found it entertaining. In a year or so, I might even play it.

But stop trying to make it into some cult hit or a hidden gem or a fountain of wealth or whatever. Andromeda wasn't any of those things. It was an average forgettable game, the studio responsible for it was closed and that's that.

[rhorle]

GeForce GTX 770, Intel Core i5 3570, 8 GB RAM

I have a gtx 780 SC from EVGA, a i5-3470k 3.4 and 16gb ram. I run the game no problem on settings higher then auto-detect and geforce experience recommends. It recommends low but I run everything basically on High. Sometimes when doing random spins it slows down but nothing else that really impacts game play. That is one of the biggest draw backs for desktop gaming. The varied amount of hardware that can offer vastly different experiences.

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But stop trying to make it into some cult hit or a hidden gem or a fountain of wealth or whatever. Andromeda wasn't any of those things. It was an average forgettable game, the studio responsible for it was closed and that's that.

If it was a success they wouldn't have dropped the support few months after launch.

You need to learn context. The person I quoted and was responding to said they dropped support for the game. They didn't. I never said it was a cult hit, a hidden gem or anything else you want to make up. If responding to lies with facts is a bad thing then you certainly need to reexamine your through process.

Stop white knighting hate. Just because someone calls someone out on their BS doesn't mean you need to come out of the wood work to attacking them for calling the game the best thing since sliced bread. I even said it wasn't a success at all. That isn't calling something a cult hit, hidden gem, or whatever other word you can think up.

[breadisfunny]

Then it isn't a failure by your own words. It created a profit, just not a big one.

it would be a failure for the stockholders. they don't invest in games to break even or make "just a little profit". guess who ea answers to?

[rhorle]

it would be a failure for the stockholders. they don't invest in games to break even or make "just a little profit". guess who ea answers to?

Okay. We have a new type of failure being talked about. Stock holders ultimately care about the stock and not just if every product released is a critical succuess that makes lots of money. Do they want a company to always have that? With out a doubt. But reality is that it doesn't always happen. If we look at the stock price of EA since the release of ME:A we can notice something.

It didn't decrease and has since gone up. It making a profit created barely a blip to the stock price and over all health of the company. It did drop from 91 to 88 before release (time during the reviews prior to launch) but it quickly recovered.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ea+s...utf-8&oe=utf-8

It wasn't a failure even to stock holders. It just wasn't something to drive the value of the stock. When it comes to a company like EA you don't look at one game barely making a profit but the over all game portfolio. Because EA is such a large company and much of its growth and investment is currently driven by EA sports and its micro transaction systems. FIFA is essentially what investors are focusing on right now and is why it dominated much of the conference calls.

There is more then success or failure.

[SirCowdog]

We might get another reboot after 10 years of Anthem, but Andromeda 2?


No.

Correct.

EA made their money and now have abandoned it. The chances of them firing up the series again are remote, considering how they burned players with Andromeda's release.

Although to be brutally honest, I wouldn't put it past EA to fire up the hype train again once the myopically short attention span of "the gaming community" has forgotten about how they got swindled. I would be VERY careful about Anthem as well. It's not like it's going to magically be treated any better just because it's a different IP. It's still EA.

[rhorle]

EA made their money and now have abandoned it. The chances of them firing up the series again are remote, considering how they burned players with Andromeda's release.

EA has already said that they will return to Mass Effect. Even Casey Hudson has hinted that it will return eventually.

[StrawberryZebra]

Now that the dust has settled on the Andromeda drama, I wonder if continuing Mass Effect as an RPG was the right decision for the franchise.

One of the main things that always bugged me about Mass Effect was that a lot of the awesome Sci-Fi space battles took place well away from where you, the player, were. You never really got a sense of the bigger picture, or what was going on elsewhere in the War against the Reapers. It was far bigger than just Shepard and their crew, but conveying those untold stories of the Mass Effect universe as another RPG would give the game a very "been there, done that" feeling.

Just as an example here, what if there were a Mass Effect RTS, one that ran along side the main story. That would allow you to import your Mass Effect 3 save file, and have the decisions you made during your play through to have an impact on your RTS experience. It would be a great opportunities for returning characters like Hackett and Anderson to take center stage and generally allow the game to follow the a similar story arc to the main Mass Effect series. It would also provide a much greater sense of the scope of the overall war and just how much of an impact your actions as Shepard had to the soldiers who weren't part of the Normandy crew.

It also provides plenty of opportunities to bring other parts of the Galaxy alive. We're constantly told that the Turian Military is the best in the Galaxy, but we never really get the opportunity to see if that's the case. To Shepard, the Geth are little more than target practice, but to the Quarians, the Geth are basically Terminators in Space. Giving us chance to see the ME universe through another perspective, even if the main story is the same, really would go a long way towards filling in a lot of those "Space Magic" moments the main ME storyline has.

In terms of brand recognition, it would certainly be strong enough to sell even with the change in genre. Would it have outsold Andromeda? Who knows, I suppose the real question would be if BioWare had the skills and experience to make something other than an RPG.

[dope_danny]

EA has already said that they will return to Mass Effect. Even Casey Hudson has hinted that it will return eventually.

They have to, its part of retaining copyright. Same reason noneprofit fan games get taken down.

[rhorle]

They have to, its part of retaining copyright. Same reason noneprofit fan games get taken down.

That is incorrect. They don't have to say they will eventually develop future titles in order to retain copyright.

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-duration.html

"The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first. "

"How long does a trademark registration last?

A trademark registration may remain in force for potentially unlimited consecutive ten-year periods as long as the owner meets the legal requirements for post-registration maintenance and renewal and timely files all necessary documents. The owner must file a "Declaration of Use" between the fifth and sixth year following registration, attesting to the continued use or excusable nonuse of the mark on or in connection with the goods and/or services in the registration. In addition, the owner must file a combined Declaration of Use (or Excusable Nonuse) and Application for Renewal between the ninth and tenth year after registration, and every 10 years thereafter, attesting to the continued use or excusable nonuse of the mark on or in connection with the goods and/or services in the registration and requesting to renew the registration. If these documents are not timely filed, the registration will expire or be cancelled and cannot be revived or reinstated. For more information, including the different renewal requirements for Madrid Protocol-based registrations, see Maintain/Renew a Registration."

A trademark doesn't require an active product or product in development. It is relatively easy for them to maintain and keep trademarks. Stating they are going to use it eventually does not fit any of the requirements to keep a copyright or trademark. They can keep a trademark with out saying one word to the public as long as the paperwork is adequate.

[nekobaka]

ME will likely return. With Anthem being done by Edmonton(that did the ME trillogy) which if it lasts will likely be a long term on going project that then leaves Austin which is also busy which leaves a couple years until work can be started on another game. Fan hope is for Edmonton to return to making ME which is highly unlikely and would leave even more caution from both fans and EA if Anthem does poorly to return to ME. That leaves Austin to pick up development assuming they do not already have another project lined up.

Not sure if I missed a team. At least with what I know the chance of ME returning within a few years is unlikely. I personally would not expect until another five years or more to hear any news. Depending on what the hype is at that point might decide if there is a return to Andromeda or Milky way.

[I Push Buttons]

ME will likely return. With Anthem being done by Edmonton(that did the ME trillogy) which if it lasts will likely be a long term on going project that then leaves Austin which is also busy which leaves a couple years until work can be started on another game. Fan hope is for Edmonton to return to making ME which is highly unlikely and would leave even more caution from both fans and EA if Anthem does poorly to return to ME. That leaves Austin to pick up development assuming they do not already have another project lined up.

Not sure if I missed a team. At least with what I know the chance of ME returning within a few years is unlikely. I personally would not expect until another five years or more to hear any news. Depending on what the hype is at that point might decide if there is a return to Andromeda or Milky way.

Austin basically doesn't exist anymore. Its like 10 dudes who make cosmetic gear for SWTOR's cash shop.

Edmonton will eventually make the next ME, but it won't be so long as you imagine. I doubt Anthem will be a long term resource hog for that studio (unless it does outlandishly well, in which case they will probably skip ME and get to work on the Anthem sequel immediately). All of the post-launch content for Anthem is probably already being made right now.

[Lahis]

Austin basically doesn't exist anymore. Its like 10 dudes who make cosmetic gear for SWTOR's cash shop.

Edmonton will eventually make the next ME, but it won't be so long as you imagine. I doubt Anthem will be a long term resource hog for that studio (unless it does outlandishly well, in which case they will probably skip ME and get to work on the Anthem sequel immediately). All of the post-launch content for Anthem is probably already being made right now.

But they already have a 10 year plan for Anthem. They have several sequels in the works already.

[GennGreymane]

game is constantly below 15 bucks now on amazon hitting the 10 dollar category.

[Deleted]

Barely even worth the networth to download the game.

[GennGreymane]

Super cheap on Amazon now.