Anonymous sources are now reporting why Mass Effect: Andromeda did not become the game it intended to be.
Author Jason Schreier has researched the development history of Mass Effect: Andromeda for Kotaku. He has spoken with sources who worked on the game. The sources want to remain anonymous. Therefore, it is not officially confirmed. However, Schreier is considered credible; he has often explored the development history of games relying on anonymous sources, for example, with Destiny.
We summarize the key points of the development history:
- Mass Effect: Andromeda has a turbulent development history. There were constant changes in direction and across all areas – this led to numerous problems. There is no single reason to pinpoint; rather, a multitude of issues arose over the years.
- Originally, Mass Effect: Andromeda was planned as a prequel, but surveys revealed that fans wanted a sequel, so they restarted the project.
- There were supposed to be countless worlds that were procedurally generated – like in No Man’s Sky. The dream was “No Man’s Sky with a Bioware story”, but that did not work. They agreed on the final concept relatively late in the development and provided handcrafted planets.
- Although they had good technical prototypes, it never really clicked. It was not interesting enough to traverse a procedurally generated planet.
- Changes to the story occurred frequently – even late in production, they were still working on the narrative. The story team was reportedly too focused on “High-Level Ideas”.
- The Frostbite engine they switched to was unsuitable for RPGs and caused numerous problems.
- The animation team was talented but understaffed.
- There were political intrigues within Bioware and rivalries among different teams. Especially the team in Edmonton, which was behind the Mass Effect trilogy, had difficulties with Montreal, who believed their ideas and personnel were being taken by Edmonton.
- There were leadership changes that hit the team hard.
- They changed direction so often and delayed decisions, that a large portion of Mass Effect: Andromeda was developed in just 18 months instead of over the course of 5 years. During these 18 months, the developers worked overtime; they were in “crunch”.
- Teams were in different studios and countries – there were difficulties in collaboration. BioWare did not have the experience or staff like Ubisoft to coordinate such efforts.
- Additionally, there were revisions to tools that caused a lot of trouble.
- Overall, the project was likely overambitious and failed due to these excessive ambitions – they repeatedly failed to agree on “final goals” – these pillars must be established for production to proceed smoothly.
The final result fell so far short of expectations that the studio has now been downsized and Mass Effect: Andromeda has been put on hold.
You can read the complete detailed report on the history of Mass Effect: Andromeda here on Kotaku in English.
More about this “on hold” can be read here:
No Mass Effect Andromeda 2? Franchise reportedly ‘on hold’ for now
