It's not EA, it's Casey Hudson and Mac Walters

Is it just me, or did anyone else who listened to the audio interview with Hudson and Walters get pissed off? I honestly almost could not believe what I was hearing, but I suppose if Hudson and Walters want to live in their little bubble it's fine with me.

I for one won't buy another Mass Effect game until both Walters and Hudson are off the team and out of the company.

It does seem that those two did a lot of damage. EA might have been a factor too, but Mac and Hudson have seemed to defend the ending till the end.

You could well be correct. Or they could happen to know that a single slip-up in their words and EA blacklists them from the industry permanently. The problem with this EC DLC PR BS is that we just can't know what's going on.

I was slightly annoyed, but not pissed off. In any case I am glad to see someone hold individuals accountable who are in fact responsible, and not a faceless entity that includes a large number of people who are not directly responsible.

Eh, chances are they might get let go after all of this anyways.

I too have been wondering if I shouldn't add those two my developer blacklist (i.e. people whose presence on a game's development team means, "Do not buy this game!"), which currently includes people like Mike Laidlaw and Todd Howard.

Not so much a blacklist as a "don't believe anything they say" list. Any future game they make will earn no more than a rent from Redbox, and that's assuming I find enough quarters on the ground that day to make up for the $2.10 charge.

You might want to add Mike Gamble to that list.

They piss me off too, immeasurably. But while they cocked up the ending to start the people at EA are ones that had final say in what the EC DLC would consist of. If I knew names I'd use them but I don't.

I don't think he understands the meaning of the word "bespoke." It means "custom-tailored to an individual's preference" (as in bespoke jacket or a bespoke suit). Which is the exact opposite of ME3's endings

I've said it before, I'll say it again - we will never be in possession of the full facts. Most of the stuff we're likely to know is the creative decisions - the stuff from EA is unlikely to ever really come to light.

Some people want to put it all on a meddling, penny pinching EA. Some want to put it all on Casey Hudson and Mac Walters. Some want to say it was Bioware...

They're all guilty, it's just a question of degrees. We KNOW (Final Hours) that there was chopping and changing done to Mass Effect 3 at the behest of EA for the sake of Day 1 DLC and it's no secret EA frowns on lengthy development times and isn't ashamed to rush a game out the door (Dragon Age 2).

Let's never be so foolish as to say it's just ONE person's fault because even if we say the buck stops with Casey Hudson, a lot of people under him had to make bad decisions or be rubbish for things to be as they are.

I am still a bit in disbelief, i said what i thought was the nuttier bits of the video on the extended cut thread. But it just seems like they somehow still don't get it.

Oh yeah. Casey's sixteen different endings, no a, b or c stuff really pissed a lot of people off, because it turned out to be an outright lie. Mac... i just don;t know why he thinks thats a good way to end...anything.

So many letters! WEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I dunno, the entire culture at Bioware seems pretty lousy these days. But the podcast was supremely irritating.

At this point I think if even a single person at Bioware publicly showed something even vaguely resembling genuine contrition, it'd be a watershed moment, a real game changer. They are so absolutely unwilling to even approach making an apology it's unreal.

It's ultimately just sad. Bioware could have made video game history with a simple, decent, and straight forward ending. Instead they just flat out blew it and joined the list of all of the other game companies that EA has gutted from the inside out.

Sure, Hudson and Walters get a good share of the blame. It was, after all, their project. However, I don't think it's fair to give them all the credit for a screw-up of this magnitude.

Bioware as a studio has been on a downward trend of late. DA2 was nothing if not mediocre, and SWTOR was an embarassment to the KOTOR name. As far as I know, Hudson and Walters were not involved in either of these projects. That would indicate that the studio as a whole is failing to produce good games. Hard to say that a studio who allows garbage like DA2, SWTOR, and ME3 out the door isn't at least partly to blame for this fiasco.

And then there's EA. They have a longstanding track record of overworking employees, rushing projects, overcharging consumers, and purchasing and killing small, reputable studios. Examples of their rotten corporate culture abound, and ME3's treatment certainly fits their standard MO. They may be large, nameless, and faceless, but it's naive to think that they don't have a hand in what has happened to Bioware as a studio and the ME franchise.

There's no shortage of blame to go around in all this. Hudson and Walters certainly are part of it, but they're only one piece of a very large, ugly puzzle.

Since I first saw the ending I have thought long and hard about where responsibility actually lies. Eventually the truth will come out... but just like the ending there are three possibilities for what is wrong here. (I just noticed that any time I try to break something down it turns out to be in groups of threes... perhaps I have OCD... or am indoctrinated.... anyway)

The three groups most likely to blame are as follows...
Electronic Arts: Publisher
Bioware: Developer
The Fans: The Consumer

Truth be told I don't believe that any one of these groups is to blame and, truth be told, all three are in the present situation... I will walk you through my theory. It is relatively long so I must apologize in advance to anyone whom happens to have a short attention span.

Bioware: Produces Dragon Age II... it fails to live up to hype...
Note: This is normal, developers never meet customer expectations all the time and only having produced one title that failed to meet expectations is generally acceptable in the long haul...

Fans: Decry the product as it fails to live up to expectations
Note: Customers are right to complain about a product they are satisfied in...

EA: Sees that investors are becoming skeptical and likely keeps a closer eye on their subsidiary...
Note: EA is well within their rights, and being responsible, it is their duty to stockholders to ensure that their stock retains and increases in value. They likely do not intervene extensively.

Bioware: Produces TOR, as it is an MMO and will have long time operational costs, development consumes far more assets than D.A.
Note: TOR isn't a BAD game, it just lacks long term viability... Given that it has no long term viability however this WAS a mistake on Bioware's part.

Fans: Initially enjoy the product but the game fails to retain their interest
Note: Customers are ALWAYS right to stop paying for a service they want... and did nothing wrong...

EA: Seeing that they are not receiving an adequate return on investment 'assume direct control' and keep a much more watchful eye imposing far stricter scheduling and giving less and less autocracy to the developers.
Note: This is a standard practice, although given the nature of Mass Effect being story intensive and needing far more time to develop. EA may have hindered the production of Mass Effect 3 unintentionally by forcing stricter than necessary measures upon Bioware... this is quite likely.

Bioware: In an effort to regain their autocracy spoke highly of Mass Effect 3 in an attempt to get numerous pre-orders... promising features which ultimately were left out of the game.
Note: Regardless of good intentions, everybody should see this as false advertising at best... customers should be raising far more of a stink over this than anything

Fans: Looking at the track record with a franchise, instead of that of a developers, fans ate up the comments and made countless numbers of pre-orders.
Note: Fans were wrong in this instance as it is the obligation and duty of to be well informed.

EA: After the poor returns from The Old Republic and likely wanting to get a strong start in the first fiscal quarter of the year, EA made an executive decision to not extend the release date.
Note: Once again EA is right to do this, perhaps not artistically, but their primary obligations are to share holders and getting their stock back up in value likely seemed like a good decision...

Bioware: Hudson and Walters panic, realizing that their quantity of pre-orders have done nothing to alleviate EA's worries. In a last ditch effort to make the release date, they take it upon themselves to conclude the story, cutting numerous features so that they do not face the wrath of their superiors.
Note: Given the promises they had made to their fan-base this decision was wrong by the fans, but right given the extenuating circumstances. This is because at the end of they day, their paychecks are signed by the people at EA, even though EA gets their money from us. (In military terms, a bad order, is an order none the less and it is your duty to follow it)

Fans: Fan outcry over the product is massive... the majority of the fans are highly disappointed claiming that Bioware is guilty of false advertisement, failed to live up to their expectations and generally didn't like it.
Note:Fans were right to be pissed, false advertising is always wrong on the part of anybody producing anything... we are entitled to expect satisfaction in that regard.

EA: Seeing that Bioware has screwed up again, and is once again harming their organization takes matters into their own hand. They basically take Bioware out to the 'toolshed' to have a 'talk'... and tell them that they are fixing this or they are never going to have any degree of autocracy again, giving them only limited funds to do so.
Note: EA is right to be skeptical of an organization that failed again, Bioware, as a subsidiary IS obligated to work on EA's timeline whether they like or not. They are additionally right to demand that Bioware satisfy the customers... as if they don't it reflects badly on them socially (i.e. worst company in the world award) which in turn reflects upon them financially (decreased stock prices)... and as I have said before... EA's SOLE responsibility is to ensure that investor interests are maintained.

Bioware: They work upon the extended cut but given the limited materials they have to work with are basically working with two left feet, a severed right hand, and being legally blind. They try to downplay the issues because they really don't have the ability to do anything else...
Note: Bioware was caught between a rock and a hard place. They were OBLIGATED to try but were basically fighting a David vs. Goliath battle which they had no way out of and didn't have to materials to wage in a manner that would at all prove successful. I.e. they were right to release the extended cut as they both OWED it to their customers to try, and as I said before, orders from above are orders.

Fans: Fans stepped back and one again, looking at the franchise instead of the developers history decided to take a wait and see approach instead of return their game.
Note: This was wrong, yes, customers have every right to do what they want, but instead of stating that the initial product was totally unacceptable, their decision effectively told EA that we are willing to forgo our ability to return the game to give them another shot... saving them from having to do a total remake...

EA: Takes a 'wait and see' approach hoping that there isn't a mass returning of their product... when this does not happen they have effectively prevented a much worse financial problem. Seeing that continuing sales would be weak regardless they realize they have done all they can while still holding Share Holders interest in priority.
Note: EA once again, was RIGHT in this regard. As their ONLY ONLY ONLY responsibility is to the share holders... not to us or anybody else, only to those whom have invested money into their company.

Bioware: Announces that the EC will come out, still trying to downplay the actual problems because they can't blame their bosses, and they don't have the resources to correct all of the problems and can only hope to appease, as opposed to correct the issue.
Note: They are not wrong in this regard, in the same way that a small animal backed into a corner is RIGHT to fight a bear.

Begin FUTURE Speculation

Fans: Realizing that they had given too much optimism to something that was unlikely to solve their issues are still unhappy. Upon release the majority of us see that nothing we wanted was amended and we are left without the ability to return our game...
Note: Once again optimism disguised as civility got the better of most people.

EA: Having recognizing that this was inevitable but having achieved their primary goal of not having returns made succeeds in their goal.
Note: Good for them, it WAS a smart business decision for them regarding their present investors and trying to discourage 're-investment' in other companies. Afterall, look at EA stock over the last 12 months, it hasn't been very 'optimistic'...

Bioware: (Bad Ending) Will be kept on a tighter leash and held to conform to corporate expectations in the future as they have failed to redeem themselves
Note: In other words, don't pre-order or purchase another game from Bioware as it is sure to be just as much better as last years NFL game was over this years.

Bioware: (Good Ending) Will realize that they can not retain viability under the present circumstances with EA. While foregoing their Intellectual Property could break away. Not as bioware, but as a hefty chunk of their staff starting a new studio. (Look at the developers of Lost Odyssey if you think it is impossible)
Note: Their first game will make or break them, i.e. they will be huge or they will fail entirely... if the first they will develop along the same lines they did early on... if not they will close shop or produce weak titles until the flame dies.

In other words...
EA did too much of a good thing... not for us necessarily... but they WERE just doing their job. This is likely what caused the ending to be as bad as it was.

Hudson and Walters were wrong to make numerous false statements regarding their 'masterpiece' but at present are probably doing the only thing they can do...

Fans were wrong to confuse civility with optimism as EA hoped the majority of customers would. In other words, if you still have your copy of Mass Effect 3... and were not satisfied... you should have returned it or at least traded it in / sold it. In this way we could have been much more likely to get a re-release with an entirely new ending / all the features which were promised.

I think it is safe to say given the conditions which Bioware was likely under, Mass Effect 3 was pretty much doomed to be less than satisfactory from the beginning... so if we want to place the DIRECT BLAME on anybody, that should likely fall onto the lead designer of The Old Republic and the lead writer for Dragon Age II... whoever those individuals happen to be... as I am too lazy to look it up.

I concede that most of this is largely based upon speculation, and others are entitled to draw their own conclusions as well.

I don't think this is being said enough. If the game had gone well most people wouldn't singling out Hudson and Walters for the lion's share of the praise. It shouldn't happen with the blame either.

Don't forget that by the time things started looking bad for TOR, ME3 was almost at release day. Everyone (only preorders?) got a month of playtime which would have been late January, just over a month from ME3 release day. Without looking, I seem to recall ME3 going gold in early February so I'd say the damage was done long before the exodus from TOR was apparent...