Bioware had gotten a lot of heat a while back regarding the quality of their most recent Mass Effect title,  ME: Andromeda. It was criticized so much so, that Across all platforms it has lower than a 5/10 user score on metacritic.  In August of last year, Bioware unfortunately had the let the community know that the game was effectively dead.  In a previous article, I had pointed out that no further DLC would be made for the game, causing one of the games biggest story lines to be left open ended, further disappointing the fans who actually did enjoy the title.    In an update on Bioware’s blog, Casey Hudson (Current General Manager of Bioware) had this to say about ME: Andromeda, 

“When I returned to BioWare last summer, Mass Effect: Andromeda had just been released and there was a significant movement among players asking for a story DLC that would answer questions surrounding the fate of the quarians. As you know, we were not able to deliver story DLC for Andromeda—this was as frustrating for us as it was for players, and it was something we knew we had to solve in future games. That experience ultimately became a defining moment in refocusing BioWare’s mission.

Given that their next big title, Anthem, has been delayed , to ensure the quality of the game is up to snuff, it’s good to see that Bioware is taking fan feedback seriously.  Over the years they had built up a lot of good will before ME: Andromeda.  Unfortunately, like a lot of industries, this is very much a “what have you done for me lately?”, scenario.   On what we can expect of the quality of Anthem once it’s finished, Casey had this to say, 

“We need to delight players with new experiences and innovation, but we must stay focused on the importance of the world, character, and storytelling elements that players expect from our games. And our games must be designed to continue delivering new stories and experiences, in an ongoing relationship with players in the worlds we’re evolving together.

It’s in that spirit that we are working through production on Anthem–a game designed to create a whole new world of story and character that you can experience with friends in an ongoing series of adventures. It will be unlike anything you’ve played, but if we do it right, it will feel very distinctly BioWare.

Next time I’ll talk more about how our updated studio mission is helping to focus our work on Anthem and the games that will follow!”

A lot of times when things get delayed everyone starts throwing their hands in the air and getting worked up.  Honestly, at this point, I’m willing to see something get delayed so we don’t get another half-assed, unfinished, day one patch having, mechanically broken, lack of content having, horrible net code having, piece of trash like half of the games that come out these days.  I hope Bioware knocks this one out of the park.  Given that this game was supposed to be the next “Destiny” style game, and Destiny isn’t exactly knocking it out of the park lately, I’m really hoping Bioware takes this time to deliver something more than the same ol’ BS.