The statement from Dr. Muzyka:
To Mass Effect 3 players, from Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare.
As co-founder and GM of BioWare, I’m very proud of the ME3 team; I personally believe Mass Effect 3 is the best work we’ve yet created. So, it’s incredibly painful to receive feedback from our core fans that the game’s endings were not up to their expectations. Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics – but out of respect to our fans, we need to accept the criticism and feedback with humility.
I believe passionately that games are an art form, and that the power of our medium flows from our audience, who are deeply involved in how the story unfolds, and who have the uncontested right to provide constructive criticism. At the same time, I also believe in and support the artistic choices made by the development team. The team and I have been thinking hard about how to best address the comments on ME3’s endings from players, while still maintaining the artistic integrity of the game.
Mass Effect 3 concludes a trilogy with so much player control and ownership of the story that it was hard for us to predict the range of emotions players would feel when they finished playing through it. The journey you undertake in Mass Effect provokes an intense range of highly personal emotions in the player; even so, the passionate reaction of some of our most loyal players to the current endings in Mass Effect 3 is something that has genuinely surprised us. This is an issue we care about deeply, and we will respond to it in a fair and timely way. We’re already working hard to do that.
To that end, since the game launched, the team has been poring over everything they can find about reactions to the game – industry press, forums, Facebook, and Twitter, just to name a few. The Mass Effect team, like other teams across the BioWare Label within EA, consists of passionate people who work hard for the love of creating experiences that excite and delight our fans. I’m honored to work with them because they have the courage and strength to respond to constructive feedback.
Building on their research, Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. You’ll hear more on this in April. We’re working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we’ve received. This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue.
The reaction to the release of Mass Effect 3 has been unprecedented. On one hand, some of our loyal fans are passionately expressing their displeasure about how their game concluded; we care about this feedback, and we’re planning to directly address it. However, most folks appear to agree that the game as a whole is exceptional, with more than 75 critics giving it a perfect review score and a review average in the mid-90s. Net, I’m proud of the team, but we can and must always strive to do better.
Some of the criticism that has been delivered in the heat of passion by our most ardent fans, even if founded on valid principles, such as seeking more clarity to questions or looking for more closure, for example – has unfortunately become destructive rather than constructive. We listen and will respond to constructive criticism, but much as we will not tolerate individual attacks on our team members, we will not support or respond to destructive commentary.
If you are a Mass Effect fan and have input for the team – we respect your opinion and want to hear it. We’re committed to address your constructive feedback as best we can. In return, I’d ask that you help us do that by supporting what I truly believe is the best game BioWare has yet crafted. I urge you to do your own research: play the game, finish it and tell us what you think. Tell your friends if you feel it’s a good game as a whole. Trust that we are doing our damndest, as always, to address your feedback. As artists, we care about our fans deeply and we appreciate your support.
Thank you for your feedback – we are listening.
Ray.
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2 Comments
There’s a few key issues core fans have with the above statement. Mainly the wording.
Example : Fans are asking that BioWare rework the endings to what they had originally promised. 16 DIFFERING variations. Not colors. Ray states they are working hard on content to give the fans “clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey.” No Ray. You may be listening but you definitely aren’t hearing us, you know, us ? The core fan base that made BioWare what it is today ? We’re not casual games who buy a bad game and say “Oh well, better luck next time”. This series was an investment. An investment of time, passion, emotional attachment, and yes, even money Ray. The above quoted statement in context holds the most condescending of tones for the fans. To us Ray’s saying , “Since there’s a few fans who missed such an obvious mona lisa ending to our artistic masterpiece, we’ll dumb it down for you and make sure you know exactly where we meant to go. Oh and we’ll throw you a bone with a DLC epilogue. Seriously ? This is the EA methodology. Bottom line first , fans whenever it suits us. BioWare USED TO BE, Our fans are our lifeblood and we cherish that relationship. ” What happened Ray ? Once the paycheck grew and your responsibility dropped a bit you decided you’d made it and we could all go to hell ? Casey Hudson is even worse. He has lied so many times prior to release day that I’m not sure he really is Casey Hudson anymore. Somebody find the pod he’s really in !!!
We don’t want or need clarity Ray. We don’t want to be spoon fed. We expect what we were repeatedly told we were going to be given. An immersive story, that makes sense in conjunction to the series as a whole. Decisions throughout the game to SHOW THAT THEY MATTERED. Weather Shepard lives or dies we want a conclusion, not the ending to Lost. Which by the way Casey promised we wouldn’t get. (Still waiting for the lightning to give him a new hair style)
Examples for the people who aren’t die hard fans :
Show the culmination of the Quarians and Geth rebuilding their home world.
Wrex having his children.
Liara and her Father’s relationship rekindled.
Jack’s return home after the reaper threat is removed. Dead or alive.
Shepard’s child ?
Where the hell were the Rachni in the end sequences ???
I mean really, I could go on and on here. There’s literally 100’s of decisions from Mass Effect 2 that were totally omitted.
So is this a real victory for fans or a simple stall tactic to allow the so called entitled & spoiled fans stop caring and move on ? (Which btw still means financial turmoil down the line for both EA and BioWare.)
Personally ? I feel it’s an olive branch. A dried, almost dead, olive branch. That in itself is the most insulting part. @$60 per game when newly released, plus numerous DLC packs averaging $5-$10 Each. The core fan is into this series at least $220-$240. If they purchased the Collectors editions, add another $40 for a grand estimated total of $ $260-$280.
So yes, we deserve a straight answer. Even if it isn’t what we want to hear. BioWare can at the very least go out the reluctant hero instead of the Reapers they portrayed in their own self fulfilling series where an ambiguous death apparently came to all. (Except the few crew members who crash landed on the mystery planet. Who shouldn’t have been on the ship in the first place…)
Ok I need to stop. Where’s my Tylenol ?
I found the wording to be very circumspect myself but I thought I’d share the release none-the-less.