Earlier we reported that BioWare was planning to sell a launch day DLC titled ‘From Ashes’. This obviously resulted in a massive controversy, with people threatening to cancel pre-orders and accusing BioWare of selling an incomplete game.
Casey Hudson and Michael Gamble from Bioware denied that they were indulging in such practices, and assured people that the work on the DLC began after the main game was complete.
“It takes about three months from ‘content complete’ to bug-fix, certify, manufacture, and ship game discs,” said Hudson.
“DLC has fast certification and no manufacturing, so if a team works very hard, they can get a DLC done in time to enjoy it with your first playthrough on day one.
“On ME3, content creators completed the game in January and moved onto the From Ashes DLC, [which is] free with the Collector’s Edition or you can buy it separately,” he added.
Xbox.com had leaked the DLC description which is filled with spoilers — you can check that here.
Michael Gamble posted in the Bioware forums that the core team did not work on the DLC. You can check out what Gamble said below the video. Slight spoilers follow.
- “From Ashes” includes the Prothean squad mate, an adventure on Eden Prime, a new weapon, and an alternate appearance for every squad mate. Note that these alternate appearances are in addition to the ones already advertised in the CE.
- The Collectors Edition has been advertised from the beginning as containing a bonus character/mission, but we were not at liberty to provide the details. The Prothean is optional content that is certainly designed to appeal to long-time fans, which is why he is part of the CE offering (the version many fans would be likely to purchase). Mass Effect 3 is a complete – and a huge game – right out of the box.
- The content in “From Ashes” was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.
- The Collectors Edition has been sold out in most places for some time now, and is becoming very hard to find (many players prefer not to purchase the digital version). As such, we wanted to make this content available so that SE buyers could also incorporate the Prothean into their game.
So, are you content with BioWare’s justification? Tell us in the comments section below.
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