BioWare Boss Talks How Anthem Was Affected By Lack Of Mass Effect: Andromeda DLC

Things have been somewhat quiet from BioWare since the middle of last year, when changes were made to Mass Effect: Andromeda developer BioWare Montreal in the wake of that game's release. Now, with BioWare Edmonton's new game Anthem coming up, BioWare general manager Casey Hudson has provided the first in a series of "studio updates," which touches on the fact that Andromeda never got the story DLC many fans were hoping for.

Hudson served as a director on the original Mass Effect trilogy and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic before leaving BioWare. He then returned in 2017 as BioWare was facing some upheaval. "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," he said in the new blog post. "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."

He doesn't offer much in the way of specifics, but he does suggest that the situation has had a direct impact on how BioWare approached Anthem, its new Destiny-esque open-world action game.

"That experience ultimately became a defining moment in refocusing BioWare's mission," he continued. "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."

Hudson teased that his new blog post will share "more about how our updated studio mission is helping to focus our work on Anthem and the games that will follow."

Anthem had been scheduled for release this year, but back in January, EA announced it had been delayed (though it puzzlingly claimed it was not actually a delay). It still does not have a specific date but is due out sometime in early 2019.