Mass Effect 3 To Target A "Larger Market Opportunity"

[Crazed Rabbit]

From Eurogamer:

BioWare is in the process of realigning its Mass Effect franchise to appeal to a larger audience, according to EA boss John Riccitiello.

Speaking during an investor Q&A today, Riccitiello explained that Mass Effect 3 will boast greater mass appeal than its two predecessors.

"One of the things that Ray Muzyuka and the team up in Edmonton have done is essentially step-by-step adjust the gameplay mechanics and some of the features that you'll see at E3 to put this in a genre equivalent to shooter-meets-RPG," he said, "and essentially address a much larger market opportunity than Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 began to approach.

"We're huge believers in the IP and are purposefully shifting it to address a larger market opportunity."

I don't think this is going to be good. Which is unfortunate, because ME1 & 2 are probably my favorite game & sequel package.

And really, how much more mass market can you make the game after ME2? They already removed the inventory - are we going to see the removal of leveling up, or non-linear choices (at least in choosing where you want your ship to go, even if fights themselves were pretty linear)? Or the removal of choices that affect the plot?

How can you make a significant shift and have the result be anything but a generic FPS?

Finally, if they're such huge believers in the IP why do they want to change so much?

I didn't think anything could make me hesitate to buy ME3, but this could, depending on how it develops.

CR

[Graphic]

I don't think this is going to be good.

When you see the term "mass appeal" used when referring to art, it never is.

I don't know how they could F up the Mass Effect franchise worse than they did to Dragon Age with Dragon Age 2, but somehow I think they'll find a way.

This is what happens when you get bought by EA. Look at what Command & Conquer eventually turned into.

[Krusader]

It could also just be the EA CEO talking "investor-talk", but understandably it has caused a small uproar at Mass Effect forums.

I also think Mass Effect 2 is the almost perfect amount of shooter-meets-rpg already. Plus the developers already said earlier they would focus a bit more on RPG mechanics in ME3 and with this comment appearing, many people see a deja vu of Dragon Age 2 (whatever your opinion of DA2, at least its a fact a majority of people are more negative towards it than positive). Also, add in that "larger market oppurtunity" has usually meant simplifying games and making them easier, so people react out of experience.

[rajpoot]

Let's make a list...what other FPS elements can they add to Mass Effect 3. I mean I sincerely doubt that they can peel off any other RPG elements. Inventory is gone....leveling up and skill selection is very watered down.

Maybe they'll reintroduce the different kinds of ammunition from ME1. And perhaps add a consistent first person view.

[miotas]

Mass Effect had people criticise it for not being enough of a shooter and Mass Effect 2 had had people criticise it for not being enough of an RPG (removing the inventory and stripping back abilities). This just sounds like a verbose way of saying they want to try and strike a balance. At least I really hope that's all they meant.

[Graphic]

Mass Effect had people criticise it for not being enough of a shooter and Mass Effect 2 had had people criticise it for not being enough of an RPG (removing the inventory and stripping back abilities). This just sounds like a verbose way of saying they want to try and strike a balance. At least I really hope that's all they meant.

Personally, I only criticized Mass Effect for being a poor shooter. All they had to do was make the combat feel better by having better sounds and adding some recoil to the guns, not strip the depth from the game.

[gaelic cowboy]

Let's make a list...what other FPS elements can they add to Mass Effect 3. I mean I sincerely doubt that they can peel off any other RPG elements. Inventory is gone....leveling up and skill selection is very watered down.

Maybe they'll reintroduce the different kinds of ammunition from ME1. And perhaps add a consistent first person view.

They already said you can pickup enemy weapons so that will mean differ bullets and mods are supposedly back and I imagine grenades will be back so thats three or four things off the top of me head.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Let's all step back a second and relax. We all enjoy games and there's no need to get mad at each other.

CR

[Graphic]

I didn't boycott MW2 and I didn't buy it either :-/

Like I said, calm down

Take your own advice, dude.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Let's all step back a second and relax. We all enjoy games and there's no need to get mad at each other.

CR

I am not really angry though. I just get insulted at how video game consumers are actually very well informed in general about the market and the crappy ways Sony, Microsoft etc, try to nickle and dime us but then they take out their anger and frustration in the most counterproductive or even nonsensical ways.

Take your own advice, dude.

Pssh, I haven't done that for a long time.

[Graphic]

Why would I take out my anger on Sony or Microsoft when I don't play PS3 or 360 games, and my last financial interation with Microsoft was 3 years ago when I bought a copy of Vista?

I only play PC games, so where else am I going to "take out my anger"?

What you're saying is basically the video game equivalent of "how can you worry about unhealthy food in public schools when there are starving kids in Africa!?" and it's just a tad silly.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Why would I take out my anger on Sony or Microsoft when I don't play PS3 or 360 games, and my last financial interation with Microsoft was 3 years ago when I bought a copy of Vista?

I only play PC games, so where else am I going to "take out my anger"?

What you're saying is basically the video game equivalent of "how can you worry about unhealthy food in public schools when there are starving kids in Africa!?" and it's just a tad silly.

Except that isn't what I am saying at all. Listen carefully, I am not singling you out. I am merely annoyed at you because you are a good representation of the average gamer which frustrates me. I do not care about you. See, when I listed Sony and Microsoft, I listed "etc" which according to dictionary.com means, "and others; and so forth; and so on". These others include such PC money mongers like, EA or Activision for example.

I took you as an example of the general case of many gamers. Many gamers get pissed off about something. They then take it out on the wrong people or things or generally just engage in unproductive whinging. As a general example I took the first two companies that came to mind, Sony and Microsoft.

See you are part of something bigger, you should be happy. I applied your specific complaint "Omg, game is delayed and someone came out and said, everything is going to be better! That means Bioware has officially gone down the drain to mediocre land." to the grander theme of most gamers not utilizing their consumer power and rage properly.

So you see, your analogy of what I am saying doesn't really hold up. In fact it doesn't make sense at all. I am not saying there is a bigger problem, stop worrying about ME3, I am saying that the anger that has suddenly emerged towards Bioware for this suit coming out and running his mouth is unsubstantiated and only comes from the anger of previous Bioware mistakes (like that server crash that they took 3 days to inform people of, now that was something to be angry over). But gamers want to ***** even when there is no justification for it. Good developers such as the Bioware team making ME3 are lashed out as if they were Stanley Woo (I forget his exact position) or if they were the DA2 team, when according to info in front of me, they are not.

[Sarmatian]

Except that isn't what I am saying at all. Listen carefully, I am not singling you out. I am merely annoyed at you because you are a good representation of the average gamer which frustrates me. I do not care about you. See, when I listed Sony and Microsoft, I listed "etc" which according to dictionary.com means, "and others; and so forth; and so on". These others include such PC money mongers like, EA or Activision for example.

I took you as an example of the general case of many gamers. Many gamers get pissed off about something. They then take it out on the wrong people or things or generally just engage in unproductive whinging. As a general example I took the first two companies that came to mind, Sony and Microsoft.

See you are part of something bigger, you should be happy. I applied your specific complaint "Omg, game is delayed and someone came out and said, everything is going to be better! That means Bioware has officially gone down the drain to mediocre land." to the grander theme of most gamers not utilizing their consumer power and rage properly.

So you see, your analogy of what I am saying doesn't really hold up. In fact it doesn't make sense at all. I am not saying there is a bigger problem, stop worrying about ME3, I am saying that the anger that has suddenly emerged towards Bioware for this suit coming out and running his mouth is unsubstantiated and only comes from the anger of previous Bioware mistakes (like that server crash that they took 3 days to inform people of, now that was something to be angry over). But gamers want to ***** even when there is no justification for it. Good developers such as the Bioware team making ME3 are lashed out as if they were Stanley Woo (I forget his exact position) or if they were the DA2 team, when according to info in front of me, they are not.

So, you're saying that even though EA explicitly said that the game is delayed to get time to give it "more mass appeal", it doesn't really mean anything because you know the inner workings of EA and that just means they're going to give it more complexity? The last time we heard similar rhetoric of "mass appeal", "attracting COD crowd" etc... was when they were making DA2 and that turned out a disaster. People are naturally suspicious and yet according to you that's completely silly, like EA doesn't have a reputation of dumbing down games and ruining good studios.

And YOU get frustrated??? Really?

[Graphic]

So you see, your analogy of what I am saying doesn't really hold up. In fact it doesn't make sense at all. I am not saying there is a bigger problem, stop worrying about ME3, I am saying that the anger that has suddenly emerged towards Bioware for this suit coming out and running his mouth is unsubstantiated and only comes from the anger of previous Bioware mistakes (like that server crash that they took 3 days to inform people of, now that was something to be angry over). But gamers want to ***** even when there is no justification for it. Good developers such as the Bioware team making ME3 are lashed out as if they were Stanley Woo (I forget his exact position) or if they were the DA2 team, when according to info in front of me, they are not.

No one's saying flat out that it's going to be garbage, but only that it doesn't look good given the fact that Dragon Age 2 already seemed to got hit with the "mass appeal" hammer and it royally F'd up a perfectly fine franchise. You say it "only comes from the anger of previous Bioware mistakes"...and? What's wrong with that? People base their expectations on patterns and things that happened in the past. Is your suggestion that we're not to have any expectations ever about anything?

You keep saying "is anyone reading my posts!?!?!?!" Well, go back and read mine and tell me where I said "Mass Effect 3 will definitely be garbage and I'm deciding right now to not buy it." You can't do that, because I never said that. I, and most others, only expressed trepidation.

As for the rest of the post...I'll try and say it nicely: please stop talking to me like I'm a child. I always considered The Org to be a haven on the internet where there was no (or little) flaming and trolling, and your posts are borderline. I'm getting a little pissed here because of your tone so try and act more civil before it gets out of hand. Thank you.