“No Man’s Sky” and “Mass Effect: Andromeda” share something in common though it is far from comforting. Both had ambitious plans to give gamers a wide universe though both fell short of expectations. Unable to back up those plans, both find themselves trying to pick up the pieces in an effort to resuscitate what they can to cover lost ground.
Ambitious plans, lack of technical know-how
Before Hello Games started the hype behind an alleged quintillion of planets, Bioware claimed that they were the first to consider such. “No Man’s Sky” tried to pull one out last year and most know how that went.
With that celebrated flop, BioWare may have done well to study why the ambitious space exploration game went haywire.
By now, most know that BioWare never put that into consideration for “Mass Effect: Andromeda,” and it is suffering the same fate of having a disappointed following. Now, both find themselves trying to make up through patches and hopefully appease their handful of players and hopefully reel back the ones who left due to failed expectations.
Covering losses and restoring faith
It remains to be seen if the updates to both “Mass Effect: Andromeda” and “No Man’s Sky” will somehow push them close to what they originally planned. They do have a lot of ground to cover and the safest projection both may have is to at least come close to delivering the unique game scenarios most were expecting.
After initially claiming they were pulling the plug on updates for “Mass Effect: Andromeda,” BioWare has followed a different course. Whether patches are major or minor, the fact remains that they need to find ways to do damage control even with a botched debut.
The best BioWare can do is follow the outlook of Hello Games. Despite the debacle of “No Man’s Sky,” game developers are continuing to find ways to address bugs and improve game performance.
Though both have contrasting plights, BioWare can use the effort for future game titles under the “Mass Effect” name. Prior to “Andromeda,” the company did reap dividends from the previous “Mass Effect” series – meaning there is still the brand to consider. The current offering may have bungled but all that can be erased if and when BioWare decides to make another installment.
Right now, there are no plans to follow-up and mop up the mess caused by “Mass Effect: Andromeda.” Understandably, the losses have taken its toll on BioWare, meaning they would need to rebuild their confidence before embarking on a new installment for gamers. The thing is, they cannot let one game installment bring them down. Hello Games is in a worse case scenario with a game that had no backing so BioWare may want to consider that and pick up the pieces to get back on the right track soon.
