Nick, Chip, and Kurabara are here for a special episode talking about the recent restructuring at Bioware. But first, they talk about their plans for an upcoming multiplayer night where they’ll be streaming themselves playing the Mass Effect Andromeda Multiplayer and playing alongside anyone from the community willing to join. The event will be March 1st at 10:00 pm EST at twitch.tv/mashthosebuttons. Check the discord for more details.

Next, the guys get into talking about the recent Bioware news. They talk about how the studio has gone down to under 100 employees after pretty much everyone that worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard was either laid off or sent to other studios at EA. They talk about Veilguard’s reception and how it seemed like it was well received (except amongst parts of the community primed to dislike it) and wonder if EA’s expectations were what was off. They talk about its struggled development being made as a live-service game and then being reworked to not be a live service game.

Next, they discuss what this means for Mass Effect 5 now that it is fully the focus of those left at Bioware. They talk about how Mass Effect 5 must be a success or Bioware is done. They talk about the struggle that new games face upon release as the market is squeezed by all the ongoing live-service games, including Fortnite, World of Warcraft, and Final Fantasy XIV. They talk about Anthem and Andromeda’s struggles and Chip wonders if Andromeda is due for a legendary edition. Nick points out that if they can get ME5 done in two years, it will still be ten years since Andromeda was released.

Thank you for listening to Squad Goals – A Mass Effect Andromeda Podcast! Please send any comments or questions to [email protected] or @squadgoalsN7.mash.gg on Bluesky.

Episode URL: mtb.gg/3mb

Hosts:

Nick Zielenkievicz
twitter.com/WookieeBH

Chip Locke

Cory Treadway
twitter.com/kurabaras

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