Oh BioWare. You know, as someone working for G2A, I understand what it’s like to push through bad reputation. With Anthem being so much of a make-it-or-break-it for you, it can’t be easy.But this is not so much about Anthm. Well it is, but it’s more so about BioWare’s future. In his interview with Eurogamer, Mike Gamble, Anthem’s lead producer expressed hope for the title, but also understanding for the concerns raised by the studio’s longtime fans.
“It’s key to be very clear what this game is, It is not a single-player corridor shooter, it’s not a Mass Effect game, it’s not a Dragon Age game, as much as those IPs are special to us.” he says. Even though I personally try to look at each game as its own thing, even in a series, for me too it is difficult to ignore the longer and cherished tradition of BioWare, and Gambel seems to understand that.
However, looking further into the future, he stated: “As much as we have various projects in the works and there’s a team working on Dragon Age stuff right now, and Mass Effect is certainly not dead“.
Gamble informed Eurogamer that they learned from the debacle that was Mass Effect Andromeda by saying: “I feel strongly there’s enough of an audience out there who appreciates it and loves [Mass Effect: Andromeda] that I feel encouraged by this still. Could it have been received better? Absolutely. Are there things we learned from it—focus, polish, visual fidelity? Absolutely. We have to, or we never get better and make the same mistakes.”
Now, far be it for me to judge, but personally I don’t feel those were the mistakes Andromeda made. I don’t think it “could have been received better” unless you actually, you know, made it better. The problem wasn’t marketing or competitive cycle, it was a Mass Effect game, EVERYONE wanted it. The problem was that you rushed it, that the story was nonsensical and that it didn’t feel Mass Effect anymore.
And the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Devil may Cry 5’s trailer does prove, to my dismay, that there is opportunistic value to be found in fan nostalgia. But then again the Tomb Raider reboot is nothing like the games of yore and it’s rocking. I guess the key ingredient here is just making a good game.
But it’s clear that Bioware of today is a very different beast. And if they want to make good games for an audience that will have them, all the power to them.