Anthem dev blames Zelda BOTW for Mass effect Andromeda's failure.....wut?

FakeSympathy

Elite Member
Legacy
Jun 8, 2015
3,049
2,754
118
Country
US
Game Informer recently did a short interview with Anthem's executive producer Mark Darrah, titled "123 rapid fire questions about Anthem". While the interview itself was contained and light-hearted, There was one question that made personally pissed off

*Skip to 2 m 51 s for the question

This guys pretty much blamed Zelda for ME:A's failure, all because "it came out around the same time"

#EAstupiditystrikesagain
 

CaitSeith

Formely Gone Gonzo
Legacy
Jun 30, 2014
5,343
358
88
Well, he isn't completely wrong. People will usually rather buy a better game than your crap if they come out at the same time, don't they? *chuckle*
 

TheMysteriousGX

Elite Member
Legacy
Sep 16, 2014
8,300
6,798
118
Country
United States
I mean, Dragon Age Inquisition came out to good sales and reviews, then Wtcher 3 came out and stole DA's lunch, so I get the sentiment, but c'mon: the main thing that kill MA:A was Anthem taking all of it's resources.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

Alleged Feather-Rustler
Jun 5, 2013
6,760
0
0
Mass Effect was doomed to fail. Not only did they cut the development time by 6 months, but they actually thought it'd be a good idea to make a soft-reboot of one of the best gaming trilogies ever, specifically not including anything from the previous trilogy, being a story/character driven game.

It'd be like if the next Fallout game, a series defined by single-player story rich exploration, was suddenly a standard crafting and zombies online survival game. Its doomed from the start, and no one should be surprised when it fails.
 

spartandude

New member
Nov 24, 2009
2,721
0
0
altnameJag said:
I mean, Dragon Age Inquisition came out to good sales and reviews, then Wtcher 3 came out and stole DA's lunch.
The Witcher 3 came out 3 months after Inquisition. I'm pretty sure it didn't do too much damage to Inquisition's launch.
 

Chimpzy_v1legacy

Warning! Contains bananas!
Jun 21, 2009
4,789
1
0
A game never fails because of subpar quality, or mismanagement by the developer, or lack of advertising, or being released close to a higher profile title (bonus points if it's from the same publisher, like poor Titanfall 2). Or a combination of factors that all point squarely at the developer and/or publisher as culprit.

No, it has to be someone else's fault.
 

TheMysteriousGX

Elite Member
Legacy
Sep 16, 2014
8,300
6,798
118
Country
United States
spartandude said:
altnameJag said:
I mean, Dragon Age Inquisition came out to good sales and reviews, then Wtcher 3 came out and stole DA's lunch.
The Witcher 3 came out 3 months after Inquisition. I'm pretty sure it didn't do too much damage to Inquisition's launch.
You'd be correct. Dragon Age Inquisition came out to good sales and reviews.
 
Sep 24, 2008
2,461
0
0
It's bullshit like this that makes me hate PR so much.

Let's not mention how MA:A had reported problems of missing save game files [https://www.google.com/search?client=avast&ei=Ju0zW9HmIOfXjwT7lLOoBQ&q=mass+effect+andromeda+save+game+error&oq=mass+effect+andromeda+save+game+error&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i22i30k1l5.4294.6481.0.6920.15.14.0.0.0.0.328.2560.0j4j5j2.11.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..4.11.2531...0j35i39k1j0i20i263k1j0i22i10i30k1.0.vydX101Dg9w] that plagued many people. Let's not talk about how bugs that Bioware themselves admitted to knowing that it prevented game progression [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mass-effect-andromeda-all-the-known-issues/1100-6448975/]... The consumers should look past these reports and reviews and just buy it. Forget that Bioware stopped Lore Critical DLC because they served a broken mess with voice acting so bad that Forbes wrote about it [https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianmazique/2017/03/22/5-best-and-worst-things-about-mass-effect-andromeda/#526d759c46ef]...

No, it was fine. People talked too much junk about it. And Zelda. Evil Zelda buying up all the time...
 

Gordon_4_v1legacy

New member
Aug 22, 2010
2,577
0
0
No guys, Andromeda was just a poorly made game that squandered its potential. Zelda didn?t code the fucker, you guys did.
 

Addendum_Forthcoming

Queen of the Edit
Feb 4, 2009
3,647
0
0
By that logic, Mass Effect: Andromeda failed solely because there was competition somewhere, at some time close to release?

Not to poke holes, but for a AAA title from a big publisher, doesn't that make it seem even worse than just being a shitty product? They're not even really in the same genre or category beyond 'videogame'. They weren't even released on similar platforms that would negate eachother.

I mean if you're monetized enough to play multiple consoles at once, or have a brand new console in the form of the Switch as well as other consoles or a PC to be able to play both, surely the price entry point of $60 isn't going to jeopardise any real, potential interest.

Moreover you had the PC market exclusively to yourself in terms of BotW as a comparison. It would be more accurate to say BotW sales suffered because people threw money at Andromeda on PC/PS4 rather than throw money to buy a Switch that might generate additional sales of the game.

It's like submitting your Archibald entry portraiture, and blaming your loss or lack of exposure because there was a street artist doodling on a building in Darlinghurst. Sure, it might have been one of the best examples of street art. A tour de force that most people will pass by and appreciate on some level each day. Still a stretch to say that it swallowed up your exposure and appreciation just by existing.

If anything, given the publicity and potential exposure you could reach through the Archibald Prize (multiple consoles and PC), surely that street artist must be feeling less appreciated due simply to the 'high art' scene and the less exposure they get by being far more niche a product lacking the cultural gaze for which it might be able to tap into?

Why'd you have to steal some of BotW's sales, EA?
 

Hawki

Elite Member
Legacy
Mar 4, 2014
9,651
2,173
118
Country
Australia
Gender
Male
Silentpony said:
Mass Effect was doomed to fail. Not only did they cut the development time by 6 months, but they actually thought it'd be a good idea to make a soft-reboot of one of the best gaming trilogies ever, specifically not including anything from the previous trilogy, being a story/character driven game.
How could they continue Mass Effect 3 without choosing a definitive ending and invalidating every other ending?

Whatever flaws Andromeda may have had (I dunno, haven't played it), if Mass Effect had to continue as a series, I think Andromeda was a reasonable direction to go. The only other options would have been a prequel, a continuation that would piss a lot of people off, or a sequel set so far in the future that any choices made in ME3 are irrelevant.
 

Asita

Answer Hazy, Ask Again Later
Legacy
Jun 15, 2011
3,198
1,038
118
Country
USA
Gender
Male
Hawki said:
Silentpony said:
Mass Effect was doomed to fail. Not only did they cut the development time by 6 months, but they actually thought it'd be a good idea to make a soft-reboot of one of the best gaming trilogies ever, specifically not including anything from the previous trilogy, being a story/character driven game.
How could they continue Mass Effect 3 without choosing a definitive ending and invalidating every other ending?
...Maybe by actually having the guts to choose a definitive ending and invalidating every other ending? It wouldn't be the first time Bioware did so.

Subsequent books and SWTOR canonize a great many things of KoTOR 1 and KoTOR 2, Revan as male, Meetra Surik (the Exile) as female, Light Side playthroughs of 1 and 2 (and a romance with Bastila Shan in KoTOR 1). Similarly, while it's a bit less overt it's also quite clear that they had a few broad strokes of canon in Mass Effect and Dragon Age (Councilor Udina, Lair of the Shadow Broker, Arrival, Morrigan's ritual, Hawke beating the Arishok in a duel), as the story contorts itself to put you back "on script"
 

Hawki

Elite Member
Legacy
Mar 4, 2014
9,651
2,173
118
Country
Australia
Gender
Male
Asita said:
...Maybe by actually having the guts to choose a definitive ending and invalidating every other ending?
I'd say that would be gutless rather than gutfull.

Subsequent books and SWTOR canonize a great many things of KoTOR 1 and KoTOR 2,
Difference being that Star Wars is a pre-existing franchise, so there's only so much player choice you can leave up in the air. In contrast, Mass Effect is BioWare's own IP, and there was no onus to continue after ME3.
 
Sep 24, 2008
2,461
0
0
I know I already said something, but I have to say this.

No one has a Wii U.

No one could get a Nintendo Switch until like Fall of last year.

Breath of the Wild came out March 3, 2017.

Mass Effect Andromeda came out March 21, 2017.

There was NO WHERE NEAR the install base for people who could potentially play BotW compared to Mass Effect Andromeda. Even with the minor spike in pre-owned Wii U's, it's still no where near the market EA and Bioware had for MA:A

This not owning up thing drives me mad.
 

Erttheking

Member
Legacy
Oct 5, 2011
10,845
1
3
Country
United States
Yeah somehow I don't think there's a huge overlap between LoZ fans and ME fans. Though, to be fair, EA has fucked itself in the past by having piss poor release dates, a lot of people theorize Titanfall 2 didn't sell that well being wedged in between CoD and Battlefield. Though considering EA owns Battlefield, that was its own damn fault.