BioWare is in a tough spot when it comes to promoting the next Mass Effect game. I liked Dragon Age: The Veilguard more than a lot of people, but then, I like BioWare more than a lot of people, and I still thought it was the weakest entry in the series.
This charity also extends to Andromeda, the most recent Mass Effect game – it’s fine, and it’s also the worst. But with The Veilguard compared so heavily to Mass Effect (moreso than any other Dragon Age before it), Mass Effect has to navigate a lot of negativity to make a good impression this time around.
We know next to nothing about the new Mass Effect, but even that seems a little too much. It’s a relic of a promotion cycle that seemed to be growing outdated, with many studios now preferring to wait until something more concrete is ready to show before revealing anything. Of course, this year’s The Game Awards had a lot of long-distance reveals through Okami 2, Project Robot, and Intergalactic, so maybe the cycle has already come back around.
The point is, BioWare has gotten the excitement out of the way with its reveal, and since then has offered little but opportunities for piecemeal theories through geth-shaped craters, aliens on posters, and the presence of Liara. Then again, given we meet Liara when she is 106 and her species lives to be a thousand, that doesn’t give us much idea on the setting. Mass Effect is now having to delay fans and keep expectations in check, which is why talking about it has become so frustrating.
How To Lose Fans And Alienate People
This leads us to some tweets by Michael Gamble, project director at BioWare who is leading the team on Mass Effect. Recently, a fan tweeted their thoughts on The Veilguard which were pretty much in line with my own. Worst Dragon Age, still good. Another fan replied saying they agreed, and that it felt like the old BioWare style is “long gone” and that it makes them concerned about the next Mass Effect game. Michael Gamble replied to them.
While the original fan had 14 thousands followers, the person discussing Mass Effect concerns had just 30. Gamble’s reply reads “Genuinely interested in what you mean by this? what makes you very concerned?” and I’m sure he was just curious, but this is not a unique opinion. I’m always wary when developers wade into fan discussions like this – it feels like when someone interrupts you during an argument to ask for several examples of what you mean. While it may have been motivated by curiosity as he claims, it looks more like an attempt to shut dissent down.
The account in question explains that it has been a while since BioWare made a great Mass Effect game (politely side-stepping Andromeda, which Gamble was producer on), which Gamble agrees on but says the magic can be recaptured. The thread then continues for six more tweets between other individuals and moves onto Paragon and Renegade – the morality options of Mass Effect. Gamble argues they are highly important to roleplay, even if the majority of players opt for Paragon. As a Renegade player, I agree.
At this point, another well-known fan in the community quotes Gamble’s response and highlights that the Mass Effect poster has some visual flairs that closely resemble the Paragon logo, at which point Gamble replies, “I was talking about the trilogy. You’ll just have to wait and see…” which is as mysterious as it is annoying.
The reason for recalling this in narrative terms despite linking to the tweet so you can see for yourself is that it’s important to break down how messy this is. Gamble has entered a fan discussion uninvited at the first sniff of potential fears over his upcoming game we know nothing about, following the company’s two iconic IP having their worst entry ever, with the disaster of Anthem (lead producer: Michael Gamble) sandwiched in between. He then admits fears are rational, and re-enters the conversation to discuss a completely separate mechanic, and when another fan speculates about that mechanic, he re-re-enters the conversation to shut the theory down while teasing its truth.
The Possible Return Of Paragon And Renegade
I imagine Gamble is a little frustrated here too. The Veilguard’s lukewarm reception has put Mass Effect under pressure the team could fairly argue it does not deserve. And despite ostensibly being in charge of the whole game, there will be things he cannot say – the studio will have planned reveals at strategic times to get the most buzz, with more trailers, gameplay reveals, and previews all needing to be lined up before the game’s eventual reveal.
So Gamble is left with a game he thinks is great, that he can’t really talk about, and he sees people saying it probably won’t be any good because another, entirely separate, game was disappointing. I can imagine how difficult that is. But that’s also what making video games is like, and anyone further down the totem pole than Gamble would risk being fired and blacklisted for getting involved in these sorts of teases.
It also means the whole discussion is fraught with annoyance. Most people will be unaware of this interaction and thus when it is revealed that Mass Effect is bringing back Paragon and Renegade, they’ll be excited. Except the only people who care enough to be excited by the presence of a legacy mechanic will follow Gamble and read Mass Effect news, so they’ll already be aware. This seems to do very little for Mass Effect’s cause besides making one of the developers feel better about a fan with 30 followers having justified reservations about an upcoming video game with no gameplay and no release date.
Of course, none of this will matter when Mass Effect comes out. It will have Paragon and Renegade, or it won’t. It will be good, or it won’t. But the sooner the game gets to let off some steam, the better. If more Mass Effect news is coming, I hope it’s in the form of trailers and not tweets.
