BioWare Responds to Mass Effect 3 Day-One DLC on Disc

[Elyxard]

Regardless as to how or when it was made, I'm still waiting for the justification that they have to charge an extra ten dollars for a relatively vital piece of the game on day one. Even by regular DLC standards, the profit margins for this are through the roof. 10 dollars for a half hour of content? Isn't that an absolutely awful ratio for the consumer?

Is this anything more than a blatant cash grab? Why does EA need that day one cash injection over every other studio who actually takes their time to create legitimately substantial content to extend the life of their games? I'd like to hear their answer to that.

I hate that one production chart being thrown around. Yes it is accurate, but EA is abusing it to the absolute worst degree. There are ways to go about DLC that don't ostracize or anger your fans, and they clearly didn't do it. This is indefensible, and they need to know it.

They're already planning to do the same damn thing for the next Sim City, they clearly have not gotten the message yet.

 

[JediMB]

Later, on Gamble's blog [http://www.twitlonger.com/show/gcijat], he continued to explain his company's DLC process. "Because the plot of ME3 is so richly interwoven with the character interactions and moments, you simply cannot use a DLC module to 'insert' a new character," he wrote. "As we've mentioned before, that character has to be planned and the framework has to be established ahead of time for us to build off of with the DLC module. You may have seen a similar framework developed in ME2 for the Zaeed and Kasumi characters.

"We wanted [the new character] to be a fully featured squad member, with deep dialogue throughout the game - and we needed him to be accessible via the character selection GUI (which you cannot simply 'overwrite' with DLC). Thus, certain elements of the [character's] appearance and some of the VO needed to be included on the disc. That is a fact. But that doesn't mean the content was created, and then removed. It is a necessity of adding a rich character presence in our game."

In such general terms as he's speaking, this is actually not true. It's very much possible to have a fully integrated character added to the game afterwards without there having to be any traces of it in the core game. If BioWare can't do it, it's an either engine (UE3) limitation or lazy programming on their own part.

You'd do it either through overrides (the new character selection screen overrides the original), or through a character selection screen that supports plugins. I think the real issue here is that having that kind of support for new content would open the game up for amateur modders, which is something they don't want.

I think all the backlash against Bioware/EA could have been avoided had they simply not made the DLC character someone so important to the story.

He really wasn't that important to the game's story. He's important to fans of the Mass Effect mythos, but the story doesn't in any way depend on Javik. (That said, he's still pretty awesome to have.)

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

You want I should show you the chart?

I like whomever took the time to make that did not take the time to spell price gouging right.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

I, for one, never intend to stop having this conversation. Why? Because I'm an American. And no, I don't say that because it's my belief that it's my right to complain. No, I get slack from my other forums about how damn comsumeristic my entire culture is. We buy and we consume and we waste and whatever. Now the one time I'm actually concerned on what my money's actually going to, I get told to stfu by the same people who should be worried about the same thing. Either because they are fans or because they are apart of the industry... or simply because they are tired of hearing it.

My issue is... well, stuff like this here [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2011/05/04/mass-effect-3-release-date-gets-pushed-to-q1-2012/]. It is well known in our hobby that if a game has a date released, be prepared to wait at least six extra months to actually play it. Yeah, I'm not a designer, but I know if you have an idea and you're already planning on calling a delay... don't call such a short delay if you're really just interested in getting the product out. Yeah, the fans will be up in arms if they have to wait longer for their game... but it will be worth it if they get what they feel is like a finished product and a wonderful experience. If they actually get a delay anyway and then shilled for more cash, most of them will just feel ripped off.

And with the chart that's going around... you're telling me someone in 90% of completition of this game said "You know what would be good? a prothean playable in your squad"? They didn't plan that out when they wrote every little scene? It's either piss poor planning or milking. One of those is more excusable, mind you, but not terribly great.

 

[Joe Deadman]

Meh i'm not even that bothered about the whole day one DLC thing since Origin is a bigger concern to me so I haven't even bothered to buy the game and probably never will, but it was pretty silly of EA and Bioware to lie about starting on the DLC after the disk was finalised when that's now obviously not the case.

Watching them explain that should be fun to watch, or maybe they'll just keep edging around it like in the OP.

Still kind of a shame i'll probably never see the end of the series but from everyone raging about it a guess the ending probably isn't that great anyway.

 

[Damien Granz]

So, can I sell you a $10,000 car, lock the back seats and trunk with a separate key, claim that those two seats and trunk space aren't 'vital' to the experience of driving, offer to sell you a key to the back seat for another thousand dollars, and then offer a week later the key to the trunk for an additional thousand, and claim that, while I was testing the driver and front passenger side seat's crash safety, somebody else was designing the key to the back door, and it wasn't done yet, so it's 'extra' content that I'm not obligated to give to you for free?

I mean, hey, look at that chart being passed around. It totally says that those characters where being made after the rest of the game was in debugging. Let's trust that, right? And not the fact that leaked design notes placed the creation of this character very early in the production cycle, or that this data mining shows that a majority of this character's dialogue and animations are already in the game.

I love also the dismissive attitude that chart has towards bug fixes, too. As if we're all entitled assholes for wanting a product that works as advertised. I guess we should just expect anymore that the paying customer is treated as unpaid beta testers and get used to it, because asking for a product that works is entitlement.

Going on my car example from above, that would be like purchasing a car that broke down in 3 miles and being told that they didn't have time to test to make sure the engine worked when driven, and that, if I'm lucky, they'll fix it, or more likely anymore, I can buy a fixed sequel to this car in a year.

And with the chart that's going around... you're telling me someone in 90% of completition of this game said "You know what would be good? a prothean playable in your squad"? They didn't plan that out when they wrote every little scene? It's either piss poor planning or milking. One of those is more excusable, mind you, but not terribly great.

If he wasn't planned ahead of time (and evidence suggests he was) then it flies in the face the claim that they had to put his content on the disk ahead of time to integrate him fully into the story.

I'm sorry, but them finding this content is the smoking gun. If it was the first time that BioWare or EA has done shit like this, I'd be more lenient, but this really is an episode of finding a guy over a train tracks with a woman tied to it for the 30th time and him being like "This isn't what it looks like. I'm rescuing her this time. You should give me a medal".

 

[Elyxard]

I, for one, never intend to stop having this conversation. Why? Because I'm an American. And no, I don't say that because it's my belief that it's my right to complain. No, I get slack from my other forums about how damn consumeristic my entire culture is. We buy and we consume and we waste and whatever. Now the one time I'm actually concerned on what my money's actually going to, I get told to stfu by the same people who should be worried about the same thing. Either because they are fans or because they are apart of the industry... or simply because they are tired of hearing it.

Very much this. Ethics and integrity are extremely important to me. If a corporation is deliberately trying to milk my wallet for more than they're worth, then they are no better than scam artists, and I don't feel good about giving money to scam artists.

The fact that EA keep doing this over and over again only says that we need to be even louder than we are.

Edit:

I'm sorry, but them finding this content is the smoking gun. If it was the first time that BioWare or EA has done shit like this, I'd be more lenient, but this really is an episode of finding a guy over a train tracks with a woman tied to it for the 30th time and him being like "This isn't what it looks like. I'm rescuing her this time. You should give me a medal".

You couldn't have said it better. This isn't the first, second, third, or even the last time that EA has done this. They crossed the line with Dragon Age Origins and they have clearly not learned since then. Personally, I've had enough. They have lost my business for good.

 

[T_ConX]

It has been stressed many times before, if you don't think it's worth it then don't complain about it. Also, screw Metacritic. Those scores only come from more idiots complaining about day-1 DLC to give other idiots extra ammunition.

No, those scores came from actual Publications, which have collectively given it a 57 average.

The user reviews give it a 2.1, which is really no surprise.

Also, I can't tell you how stupid you look complaining about a DLC you don't even want. By all rights you shouldn't even be allowed to complain.

Oh, I want the content alright... I just don't think I should have to pay extra for it. That's why I'm holding off on buying ME3 until they release 'Mass Effect 3: Finished Product Edition'.

Wrong. As it is stated in the article, he is on the disk as a barebone squadmate. Everything else that makes up Javik as a character had to be added later. Therefore, extra development took place which required paying the people who spent extra time on the game.

I still have a lot of trouble believing that the majority of work on Javik was done AFTER they sent off the gold build. It wouldn't be the first time Bioware was caught lying about it...

The content in ?From Ashes? was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.

Source

There it is. Michael Gamble tries to quell the first round of outrage by claiming that the content was developed while the rest of the game was in certification.

 

[Metalrocks]

having the CE doesnt worry me too much but i sure hate this marketing procedure. the same was with kasumi and zaeed in ME2. i was always wondering why these 2 rooms on the normandy are off limits until the DLCs showed up. already there it made me wonder if these 2 characters were done a long time ago but just used the DLC as en excuse to make more money.

 

[shintakie10]

I've given up ragin about day 1 dlc at this point and instead vote with my wallet. However the bullcrap halftruths that Bioware is throwin around is far more annoyin to me and should be to everyone else.

They outright stated that everythin in From Ashes was developed after the game was well into certification. If this is true than how would the files end up on the main disc in the first place?

The truth is probably more along the lines that they started on it, however didn't have enough time to make him an important part of the story without pushin the release date back or allocatin resources to it from another area that needed it more so they cut it. However they liked the idea of it so they finished workin on it as a low content, low impact dlc. It increases income and still gets a part of what they wanted out.

 

[Patathatapon]

Ok so I'm going to attempt to process this...

The Mass Effect 3 DLC is an add on, and they said they had to incorporate him into the game ahead of time ONLY because it was impossible to fit him into the story otherwise.

Everyones also saying the DLC is a massive piece of crepe anyway, so everyone cares oh so much?

I remember playing Fallout New Vegas and buying a the "Honest Hearts" DLC pack, what they did was just add a whole new area, which most would say is what it should be.

However, Bioware did something unique and tried to bring the DLC into the story, rather than just a side mission, or plot ineffectual thing (like in New Vegas). In order to do that, they had to make that INTO the game.

(Despite living in the same city as them) I never had anything of Bioware's I liked (except for SW:KOTOR) but I think they had a nice idea, that just didn't seems to agree with their fans.

Rage or do not, Bioware DID have a good idea, it just didn't work.

 

[evilneko]

As I said in another thread: Day one DLC, especially when it's already on the disc, just looks bad. Production realities aside, the optics of it are just terrible.

If they delayed it even a few days to a week (and hey, maybe added an extra mission or two) after launch, I bet a lot fewer people would be crying over it. (or hell, even just to fucking test it more, as From Ashes has a CTD bug where if you watch the wrong video signal first, you'll crash. WTF?)

It's all about managing perceptions.

 

[Zen Toombs]

When I first read this, I actually accepted the answer provided. I didn't know what was needed to have a character be put into a game, and what was there sounded reasonable.

And then I found out that the extra character can be totally unlocked with what is on the game disc. If that's true, then that isn't okay. By their own admission, that's more than they need to do.

 

[Buizel91]

So fans of a game are complaining about DLC?

I like how in the few month i have been away from here NOTHING has changed -.- Seriosuly deal with it, it's been happening for years now!

I'll just leave this here...

 

[OldNewNewOld]

You want I should show you the chart?

Even tho I'm not sure what to think about DLC in general, I have to agree with this.

And just to clarify. I hate DLC because the give you so little for so much money. In the old days, you got an expansion pack for 30$ and it was as big as a full game.
Now you get a map pack for 10$, few models for another 10$ and a new shiny gun for another 10$. Basically, nothing for 30$.

EDIT:
And many people obviously don't understand how programming works. Ofc. there is going to be some parts of the character (a skeleton) in the original game if the DLC is going to add him INTO the story. There has to be some groundwork for that. The DLC will finish everything up.

 

[James Raynor]

Bioware saving throw!


Honestly, I don't see why they bother talking about it. It's not like the fans will care, they'll happily take whatever abuse they get. On the other hand, haters and 'lost' fans will not suddenly turn around and forgive bioware. Bioware is terrible at public relations. Disappointing that they botched DA2 and ME3 with controversy.