14 DAY TRIAL // Mass Effect 3, the last game from BioWare and Electronic Arts to feature Commander Shepard and the saga of the Reapers, has been out for about one week and there’s already a controversy ragging about how the team chose to end the game.
But Casey Hudson, the leading producer working on the game at BioWare, has no regrets about how the game turned out and stands by the choices made by his team.
Speaking to Digital Trends, the developer stated, “I didn’t want the game to be forgettable, and even right down to the sort of polarizing reaction that the ends have had with people – debating what the endings mean and what’s going to happen next, and what situation are the characters left in.”
Hudson believes that a clear cut ending would eliminate the need for gamers to talk about it and explore possible ramifications while the narrative that BioWare has created for Mass Effect has always included mystery and interpretation.
He added, “It’s very important to us and we will always listen to feedback, interpret it and try and do the right thing by our fans. That’s why if you look at Mass Effect 2 we knew that people wanted to spend more time with a character like Liara, and so we created an ongoing storyline with her as part of the comics and then built it into the DLC stuff, and we’re always listening to fans.”
Quite a few fans have recently launched a petition asking the company to work on downloadable content which will change or clarify the ending of the game, even going so far as announcing that they are taking donations that will go towards charity in order to show how serious they are.
Mass Effect 3 is available on the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360 and the PC and has managed to ship 3.5 million copies to retailers.