Back in early March, EA’s CFO confirmed at a tech conference that Mass Effect Andromeda would be released sometime in the Q4 of this financial year – which, for non-financial readers, translates to early 2017 (the financial year ends in March of 2017). So it’s not surprising that BioWare has made a statement of their own, confirming the delay from the original release date of holiday 2016.
In an update on the official Mass Effect website by Aaryn Flynn, BioWare’s general manager, the Mass Effect team explained that recent playthroughs at the studio, the game is clearly heading in the right direction. However, they “also know [they] need the right amount of time to make sure [they] deliver everything the game can be and should be.” As a result, Andromeda will ship in early 2017. This isn’t new news – but its always reassuring to hear from developers themselves that they’re delaying a game in order to ensure the best player experience.
Andromeda will feature “more freedom” compared to previous Mass Effect experiences; “new uncharted worlds,” as the new title will be set in the Andromeda Galaxy, as opposed to the Milky Way; and the “next great Mass Effect experience,” as Andromeda is not only the first Mass Effect game specifically built for this generation of consoles, but the first title in the franchise built on the Frostbite game engine. A further update has been promised on June 12 at the EA Play event, EA’s separate gaming event from the E3 trade show that will take place the same week.
Game delays have become increasingly common in this year’s slate – which may not necessarily be a problem. Uncharted 4 was delayed 3 times before its release, and has now come out to excellent reviews. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst has also been delayed – just for a few weeks – but gameplay footage released thus far looks incredibly promising. Instead of pushing an unfinished product to meet a deadline, and then releasing months upon years of patches afterwards, developers are now realizing that fans are willing to wait for a few more months if it means a product comes out complete and ready.