BioWare’s reinvigorated voice followingAnthembeing showcased atE3 2018continues to lead to reflection regarding the release ofMass Effect: Andromeda. Mark Darrah, the executive producer of bothAnthemand theDragon Agefranchise, spoke candidly on Twitter regardingMass Effect: Andromeda’s launch. Darrah expounded on whether the RPG was given a “fair shake” at launch, touching onMass Effect: Andromeda’s deep flaws, the review environment at launch, and the unforgiving nature of the industry.
Darrah starts and ends his thread by acknowledging thatMass Effect: Andromedawas a game with serious issues, especially at launch. Darrah doesn’t believe those flaws should be looked at differently, but thatMass Effect: Andromedawas constantly compared to games that, “each [do] something better than [Mass Effect: Andromeda.]”
“As a result, even systems that are pretty decent get scrutinized against superiorly implemented ones. Does launching in a different window turn 72% into 90? Certainly not. 72 into 77/78? Maybe.”
Darrah is, of course, referencingMass Effect: Andromeda’s Metacritic review average of 72% for the PC platform.
This environment of negative comparison may or may not have affected sales, but Darrah does acknowledge the power of word of mouth in gaming. The discourse surroundingMass Effect: AndromedaduringEarly Accesswas incredibly negative.
Mark Darrah’s Twitter posts come in response to a recent exaggerated controversy stemming from a “Rapid Fire” interview he did with Game Informer. Darrah was asked whether he believedMass Effect: Andromedawas given a fair shake and he says no, citing a crowded release window includingRPGs likeZelda. Unfortunately, Darrah isn’t able to elaborate, as he must move on to the next question.
As such, Darrah’s posts today shouldn’t be read as if he suddenly felt the need to leap toMass Effect: Andromeda’s defense more than a year after release. He was asked about the game in an interview aboutAnthemand wanted to make sure his response was properly presented. What happened withMass Effect: Andromeda, everyone can agree, was unfortunate. It’s just a matter of learning and moving forward.
“That’s the nature of the industry. You don’t have full control over when you launch and no control over when others do.” … “You launch the best game you may. MEA has a lot of problems and got lapped by genuinely better games.”
Asked whether BioWare is considering movingAnthemfrom its February 22 release date due to a slew of other AAA releases launching around the same time, Darrah confidently says, “No.” It seems BioWare is sureAnthemwill be the game against which others will be compared, this time around.
Mass Effect: Andromedais available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.Anthemreleases February 22 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
