{"id":49332,"date":"2020-02-22T17:38:30","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T22:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=49332"},"modified":"2020-02-22T21:53:21","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T02:53:21","slug":"mass-effect-is-dead-long-live-mass-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=49332","title":{"rendered":"Mass Effect is Dead, Long Live Mass Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mass Effect<\/em>, as we all know, is dead. It was a great while it lasted – a bona-fide full-3D, character-focused, worldbuilding-rich, fully voice-acted, and well-polished 3D AAA RPG. But then the third game had a silly ending, and then the whole “Andromeda” spinoff flopped out of the gate, and now it’s dead.<\/p>\n

Or is it? This is a major IP. It was once a cash cow. Companies like EA aren’t in the habit of letting potential revenue just float off into the ether. More likely, the plan is to let the franchise lie fallow for a few years – let the audience’s goodwill replenish a bit, and then come back for another go. This plan might already be in motion for all we know. I figure that if they don’t put Mass Effect 4<\/em> into some kind of preproduction at some point, they’re leaving money on the table.<\/p>\n

ME1's visuals have aged well if you ask me. Take away the film grain effect and change the UI, and this could pass for either of the later entries in the series. Not bad for a 2007 vintage.<\/div>
ME1's visuals have aged well if you ask me. Take away the film grain effect and change the UI, and this could pass for either of the later entries in the series. Not bad for a 2007 vintage.<\/div><\/p>\n

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I don’t envy whoever has that job, especially considering that between Andromeda<\/em> and Anthem<\/em> I’m beginning to doubt Bioware’s preproduction skills<\/a>. It seems like their strategy is to remain in preproduction for as long as possible, years if need be,<\/a> and save production-production for a desperate, nine-month long crunch at the end. You would hope that EA has, by this point, noticed something is wrong and brought in someone who actually plays and enjoys video games to try and diagnose the problem. But that sort of thing isn’t really in EA’s wheelhouse. In fact, all of the major AAA super-publishers have wheelhouses that look increasingly bare of usable wheels these days, with most of the remaining ones labeled “P2W microtransactions” and “thinly disguised online gambling dens.”<\/p>\n

So, if you’re working for Bioware right now, staring at a blank monitor in a room that seems to be inexplicably getting both hotter and smaller somehow, don’t worry. I have good news. One: you’re probably going to be given plenty of time; if anything, way too much time. Two: you’re not alone. None of us out here know how in the Athame’s name anyone’s gonna salvage this mess either. Three: the internet is, as usual, full of dubiously helpful and completely unsolicited advice from amateurs, which is why I’m here. You’re welcome.<\/p>\n

By the third game, the models had taken one step forward and the use of color shaders had taken two steps back.<\/div>
By the third game, the models had taken one step forward and the use of color shaders had taken two steps back.<\/div><\/p>\n

Let’s look over your options:<\/p>\n