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Why BioWare Hasn't Shown Much Mass Effect Andromeda Footage Yet

Timing is everything.

151 Comments

Electronic Arts showed almost no Mass Effect Andromeda gameplay during its E3 2016 briefing in June. With it also not being shown at Gamescom this week, questions have been raised about the game's status. However, EA Studios boss Patrick Soderlund said in a new interview that the game remains on schedule and there is no cause for alarm.

The developer hasn't shown much yet because the timing isn't right, he said. Right now, EA's focus is understandably on its holiday titles like Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2. Looking forward, you can expect to see some new Andromeda gameplay.

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Now Playing: Mass Effect Andromeda Trailer Live at E3 2016

"You'll get [your first look at gameplay] in the not too distant future," Soderlund said when Game Informer asked him about the lack of footage at E3 and Gamescom.

Soderlund said he understands that gamers are hungry for Andromeda footage. Simply put, EA believes the time is not yet right to show off the game in greater detail.

No Caption Provided

"I just came back from a short vacation and I played through the first three hours of the game," he said. "It's very playable, and there is no alarm about, 'Why aren't they showing it?' It's strictly that the game will get the right type of exposure at the right time and that we can the right voice for it. Right now we're focused on our big titles for [October through December], and when that's done, we'll shift to Mass Effect. You'll see a lot more very shortly."

Soderlund didn't get any more specific than that as it relates to when the footage may be released. EA and BioWare typically announce some Mass Effect franchise news on November 7--N7 Day--but nothing yet has tied an Andromeda announcement to that date.

Andromeda is slated for release between January and March of 2017. The game was originally scheduled to come out in 2016, but was delayed "to make sure [it] deliver[s] everything the game can be and should be."

At E3, BioWare introduced players to the game's hero, Ryder, showing off the character's female version. For more, check out GameSpot's interview with BioWare, "Mass Effect Andromeda Dev on Studio Tensions, Female Leads, and the Scars From 3's Ending."

In other news about the Mass Effect series, EA has teased that Mass Effect remasters could happen.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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Atsuky

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I see you guys discussing many things, from when will the game be released, to is going to be delayed and even that the asari in the footage is ugly, but here I'm contemplating and thinking to myself why the f*** does the asari has eyebrows. Weren't they supposed to be hairless ? Can someone explain ?

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limraz

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Not a good sign. Usually, companies like to throw a bone aka a short gameplay video from time to time to build interest. I hope bugs and fugly avatar character will not show up again.

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Richard_Gravy

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Can't wait to bang an Asari

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Isariamkia

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Edited By Isariamkia

The article says : "Andromeda is slated for release between January and March of 2017. The game was originally scheduled to come out in 2016, but was delayed "to make sure [it] deliver[s] everything the game can be and should be.""

And in the incoming game list it is written : coming December 2017.

When is it supposed to be released ?

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luciferous

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@isariamkia: March 2017, I think there is a more specific release date on their website.

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HipHopBeats

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I have a feeling the females will all be butt ugly like that Shrek Asari and look like dudes, similar to Inquisition. Shallow, misogynist comment I know, but who cares? Besides, boobies and buns are what I expect to see in a Mass Effect game.

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Richard_Gravy

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@HipHopBeats: You create your own character so they'll be as ugly as your imagination

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N3C70V01D

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Edited By N3C70V01D

Simple.They don't want to reveal much.have better things to finish,polish.Don't want an hype train,which is impossible because this is Mass Effect.

And then there will be leaked info,misinformation,a shitton of theories,hype train,some delays,many people upset....

The same 'ol shitstorm.

Bottom line here,i just want to know how the hell will they tied up everything from ME trilogy into this!

Good luck Bioware 'cause your fans are a tough bunch to please! -_-

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johncas89

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Just do your thing bioware but please take some notes from all the feedback especially from the last game.

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Romayo83

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Keep the secrets to the Devs. I don't want all this hype. Half the games that came out recently I feel like I've already played the game with too many videos, commericals, selling you pre-game junk and articles.

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charmed_star

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@Romayo83: I totally agree. I feel the same about movie trailers these days. (sigh)

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deactivated-57f149464394d

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Information already leaked about the jet pack etc so they are waiting for people to forget, battlefield and titanfall are different games so i wouldn't think they are affecting it.

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xOmniCloudx

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Inb4 delay and at least one of the ME games gets a remaster to tide people over even though before they said they wouldn't do that.

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siarhei

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So they are not showing any gameplay and not taking any feedback from community.

What could go wrong?

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FallenOneX

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I'm fine with what I've seen so far. I know what to expect from a ME game, so I want them to find a way to surprise me closer to launch.

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santinegrete

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@FallenOneX: just what i was about to write.

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purewitz

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Edited By purewitz

The author of the article left out that BioWare is releasing the Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion, "Knights of the Eternal Throne" this Fall. I doubt they want to share too much info on Andromeda, so they don't take any hype away from another one of their projects. It makes perfect sense that they will wait until SWTOR KotET is out, then they'll start sharing more info about Andromeda again.

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urbanman2004

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Something smells awfully fishy

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Dav_id83

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Can I ask is the 4th picture Liara because she looks awful

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julittok

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@Dav_id83: It's just an asari, Liara's been dead for millions of years in ME Andromeda.

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GhostHawk196

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Cause they're not confident in the game, what the **** else?

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esqueejy

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Go go gadget tinfoil hat manufactured outrage....

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Thanatos2k

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No reason to worry....lol.

There was red flags for quite a while given who's in charge of this game.

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deactivated-651c3cb8decf4

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@Thanatos2k: what are those red flags that you mentioned?

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Thanatos2k

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@novaprime1985: A vile racist being a designer on the game is one. All the employees who made the previous games leaving is another.

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deactivated-651c3cb8decf4

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@Thanatos2k: ouch, imma have to look this up!

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SofaJockey

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@Thanatos2k: Ah yes, 1/800 employees is an ass. Employees change jobs sometimes. Not convinced they are particularly flags, nor red.

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Thanatos2k

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Edited By Thanatos2k

@sofajockey: When they're the lead? Yeah, that matters. Especially for a company that so frequently pleads the importance of social issues and all that nonsense. It's massively hypocritical to place racists in positions of power for game direction.

Plus you can easily see why employee turnover matters. For example, the people who made Dragon Age Origins left after EA began ruling the company, so they switched Mike Laidlaw into the lead for Dragon Age. We got Dragon Age 2.

Talent matters.

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deactivated-619938f48614f

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I think it is more related to the fact that they just don't want to screw it up with the marketing campaign after the disaster that was Mass Effect 3 -- many broken promises.

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WeepsForFools

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@pdfanboy: all the delays and secrecy is just another form of broken promises, weak shit EA

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charmed_star

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I just never get the complaint about delays. So what??? If developers never gave us ETA's of releases, people would be mad. If they do and it doesn't come out exactly on that day... people are mad. Come on ya'll... if the game came out incomplete or glitchy or problematic, everyone would be having a fit and disgracing them on every inch of social media for messing up the game. Game developing... and GOOD, complete games don't happen overnight. Sometimes we get so caught-up in just buying the game and playing it, that we often forget exactly how much it takes to make a game. Do you want them to do things right? Do you want them to take time with testing and quality control? Do you want them to give us the best gaming experience they can possibly provide? If there are hiccups, or re-do's, or fixes that need to be done... have at it. Get 'er right. Take however long it takes. I'd rather wait than get a crappy game that I wasted my money on, and have my fan heart broken. The ME franchise is a favorite of mine, and like everyone else, I'm anxiously... ANXIOUSLY awaiting for this to drop. But until then... I'll go into Zen mode and be patient. And with that, we will be rewarded with galactic greatness. I'm most sure of it. :)

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scottyp360

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@charmed_star: sometimes I feel like these game developers and publishers are in no win situations unless the game is nearly perfect.

I'm glad EA is taking this approach. Another issue they could run into by releasing footage too early is the hype factor, similar to no man's sky.hype is high since it's Mass effect but too much early footage could cause people to hype the game to unachievable levels. Or people could see footage and just trash the game because graphics don't look good enough or there is a lack of new features. Again lose lose situations.

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deactivated-651c3cb8decf4

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@scottyp360: yea, the hype was REAL on gamefaqs forums during ME2 and especially during the wait for ME3.

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charmed_star

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Edited By charmed_star

@scottyp360: Yeah, definitely. It's amazing to me how some gamers can be so impatient, or pre-judgemental, or very critical and unforgiving, which is disheartening. And when in this day and age, everything is about graphics, heaven forbid the game be excellent and fun, but not be at the highest point with graphics. I'd rather have a great story, a fun time, and a great experience than just hours of "oooh... aaaah... that's so puuuurty." Hahaha. If developers never show images or trailers or gameplay, they get talked about... but if they do, they get talked about. Point of fact... the gaming industry will never, EVER be able to make everyone happen. It's an impossible, illogical feat. I just want them to put their best efforts forward. The days of being able to return an open game for a full refund are long gone, so I want them to do their best to get it right. :)

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scottyp360

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@charmed_star: maybe it's just years of gaming experience (movies fit into this conversation as well) where I just try to keep steady expectations. If a game interests me I hope for the best but I'm not going to get overly critical and expect a perfect game. If I play the game an enjoy it, awesome. If I play the game and I'm disappointed, well that sucks but that's just how things go. Even then I'll try to enjoy what I can out of it.

Take Mass Effect 3 for example. I loved everything except for the original ending. That was a let down. But it doesn't take away from the experience that I enjoyed and loved other wise. For some it ruined the entire game, for others it ruined the entire series.

I also try to be honest with myself. No Man's sky, for example, had some things I found interesting but the more I heard about it, both pre and post release, the more I realized it wasn't a game for me. I wasn't going to force myself to like it because of the hype. I wasn't going to hate on it because of underwhelming reviews or because it didn't live up to the hype. I decided it wasn't for me so I moved on. I think some gamers set expectations so high and devote themselves to a particular brand or game that it Clouds their judgement. Either they defend it to the death or the get so critical and passionate that every little flaw becomes an issue.

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charmed_star

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@scottyp360: I totally agree. But I have to say that I'm a part of the minority who wasn't mad about the ME3 ending. I just wasn't. (shrug) I finished it and was like, "WOW... what an amazing story and trilogy experience". I didn't feel cheated and I didn't feel like everything I did in the 3 games was a waste. Honestly, I can't even remember why people were so enraged. LOL. Were they mad because Shepard died and they had no control over it? If people were expecting a happy ending... well, that's life. All soldiers don't make it home. Many soldiers sacrifice their lives to save others. I'm not being funny... it's been so long now I really don't remember why people were so angry. Hmmm... I'm trying to remember the other endings... oh, were all endings tragic? Was it that no matter what we did we didn't get a happy ending? If so, well... that's how they wrote it. We always expect the hero to save the day and walk away to save the world another day... but they kept it real, and was like nope... it's not always like that. I appreciate that. Maybe that's why it didn't faze me.

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scottyp360

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@charmed_star: the main complaints I remember was that there was little variance between the 3 endings (the most obvious being a different color of the explosion or something), or decisions didn't make a difference in the end (everyone had the same 3 choices in the end), and that the ending was short and abrupt. The extended directors cut ending at least fixed that third issue and made it feel like a more appropriate conclusion.

The ending didn't bother me too much either. I didn't love it but it didn't ruin the game or series for me. I was also a late finisher so I was well aware of the complaints before I completed the game so I braced myself for the end.

For me I look back on the series and just enjoy the experience and journey. I genuinely loved and cared about the characters I met in that game (missy boy Garrus) or disliked them depending who they were. I loved the conversations and decision making. The decisions might not have had the impact some hoped but just having that control and feeling like I'm controlling the experience was the lasting impression of the series for me.

If Andromeda brings me that same type of experience or better I'll be well satisfied.

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charmed_star

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@scottyp360: Right, right... I remember that now. I loved the choices, though... I forget which color it was that was TOTALLY trippy... like a mirror thing. Loved that! I only did 2 different color choices, so I don't know what the other color's experience was. But I think I know where they were going with that... that sometimes fate cannot be changed, no matter what you do. I think it's pretty deep, actually. And because I am a Zen person, I got it. It's just another way to go. But honestly, I think it's just the human thinking that games (like with movies), should have a happy ending. Love wins. The stand-up girl/guy saves the day. The superhero saves the world. Etc, etc, etc... and whenever we get a game/movie with a sad or tragic ending, people hit the roof. One of my favorite films (The Mist), immediately comes to mind. I loooooove the ending, but a lot of people freaked because it was such a heartbreaking ending. And they forget that it was the ending of the book, soooo. But life is just that way, unfortunately. I like it when things get shaken up... when things aren't predictable, otherwise they just become boring and cliches unto themselves, you know? :)

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WeepsForFools

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the lies sadden me

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heydink

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Maybe cause they're smart unlike NMS and only show stuff that is 100% done and definitely in !

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charlieholmes

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Gotta agree with many others here, The Mass Effect game is really what a lot of us are waiting for! Battlefield I, I may or may not get but it is a tried and true series on a strong foundation albeit never quite as good as it could be. Especially the campaign. And, TF2 is still a relative minor title considering its got all kinds of shortcomings from the first to make up for and didn't nearly impress or hold my attention for the $60 price tag.

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countofhell4321

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Tbh. they better don't show anything until release date.

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Ripper_TV

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Bullfu*k. Delay is almost certain.

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focuspuller

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I wouldn't care if they showed nothing new at all from this point forward. It would be a nice change, and they have a built-in audience.

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bluespire1

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This is because more players want Mass Effect Andromeda than Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 and they do not want to ruin their other I.P.

IMO.

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heydink

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Edited By heydink

@bluespire1: wtf no.

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Shantmaster_K

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Just hoping that there isn't another delay. It's coming out at a perfect time where there aren't many other releases.

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greaseman1985

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What the hell is that alien racoon thing?

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Kashmiro

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Sure... No footage of the game and EA backtracking on now likely remastering 1-3. I am doubting the game is ready and likely hitting next Fall, not early Spring.

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Freeskill

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@Kashmiro: I think you could be right there, it usually shows up like this when that is going to happen.

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