BioWare reportedly cans Mass Effect: Andromeda DLC, sequel plans

BioWare has reportedly abandoned plans to produce single-player expansions and a follow-up to Mass Effect: Andromeda, following poor critical and commercial reception for the game.

Developed by an unproven team working under the BioWare Montreal studio, Mass Effect: Andromeda was hoped to revitalise the science fiction action role-playing game (ARPG) franchise following complaints regarding the ending written for Mass Effect 3. Following a troubled development which included a delay from late 2016 to early 2017, the game finally launched to a critical savaging. 'There's no getting away from it, Mass Effect: Andromeda is a mess,' the bit-tech review concluded earlier this year. 'Systemically overwrought, inconsistently written and acted, and thematically wrong-headed. Most depressingly, it sacrifices the pace and focus of its predecessors in service of an open-world format which, in the face of competition from Zelda, The Witcher, and Metal Gear Solid, inevitably comes off as inferior. Mass Effect: Andromeda may frame itself as a giant leap for mankind, but for the series as a whole, it’s a big step backward.'

While post-release patches have addressed some of the more glaring errors in the game's animations and engine, hopes that single-player downloadable content (DLC) would fix the story itself have been dashed. Unnamed sources 'familiar with the company's plans' speaking to Kotaku have confirmed that the company has abandoned efforts to produce single-player DLC and will instead solely concentrate on multiplayer content and bug fixes. Those same sources, who have confirmed that the majority of staff working on the project have been reassigned to teams working on games including the Star Wars Battlefront II reboot, Anthem, and an upcoming Dragon Age title, have claimed that plans for a sequel to the game have also been cancelled.

Neither developer BioWare nor publisher Electronic Arts has spoken publicly to address the site's claims.