38 réponses à ce sujet

[Skirata129]

What if this entire Ending scandal has been carefully orchestrated from the very beginning? A purposefully bad ending was chosen to provoke extreme resentment and shock among the fanbase, while also maintaining a virtual blackout on complaints and requests, all while the real ending was being planned to be released as free DLC?

No, my deductions are not very original so far, and this has already been proposed by a number of people.

Here's where the potential monstrosity comes in. What if this entire event is a test, one where they devastate the fanbase in such a way that everyone is left wondering what the real ending to their game was, not only to increase hype and profits, but to test the waters for future titles?They want to know if people will pay to complete a game they have already bought. What if the end goal of this fiasco is to find out how the market as a whole reacts to the potential of extortion on a widespread scale, by holding a series beloved by millions to ransom, forcing us to choose between paying to complete our beloved protagonist's struggles at an additional fee, or leaving a series we once knew and loved with despair in our hearts at how horribly it went wrong?

If I am correct, this is only a field test. EA/Bioware would not dare to risk such a major title on an unproven theory. Mass Effect's real ending will be released as a free patch/dlc along with assertions of "building the tension". it will largely be dismissed as a marketing gimmick.

That will only be the beginning. Analysts will pore over the reactions of the market, all the phases fans went through  when they feared the worst, and were provided a glimmer of hope. They will scour the forums and gaming news sites, using them as a litmus to determine whether withholding the true ending of a beloved series is a viable way to add a whopping 10-20% to your profit margin. If they determine this to be the case... then God help us.

[antony.daley]

Problem with this theory.

Uninstals,
no net connections,
a refusal to BUY the product and turn to piracy

Cos if that was the case they very well have just pissed of the internet and you all know what happens when you ****** of the internet.

[SilencedScream]

I've actually considered this.

The issue is that, if they make their fanbase pay for a better ending, people might actually do it, but a LOT of them are going to be put off by it and not purchase a future title.

I, for one, am not purchasing DLC without being given PRIOR TO THAT a better-written, LOGICAL ending for free; nor am I purchasing any future Bioware or EA titles (to be fair - the Mass Effect series is the only EA published series that I've stuck with).

[v0rt3x22]

Just...no.

[Skirata129]

for PC games, piracy could be an issue. for console it becomes a much more viable tactic. the number of gamers without internet access has declined sufficiently that they can be safely shelved.

[D24O]

The whole ending is a big lie.

Modifié par D24O, 13 mars 2012 - 03:32 .

[Arokel]

If they tried to do that I can see Anonymous paying EA a little visit.

[Fjordgnu]

You'd have to sell five endings for each lost sale, though. You also have to consider people who wouldn't pay for the new endings. Any profit you made would be far smaller than 10 - 20%.

[emp6]

I've actually considered this too. But I don't think that the suits of EA would have allowed this. Thats not the way EA makes business.

[kunzite]

Well, following the tweets from @masseffect over the weekend, and anytime the topic of the endings is brought up, we get a canned 'Thanks for the feedback' reply. There was one particular tweet, however, and now I cant find it in the sea of them, that @masseffect was asked when we are going to hear something regarding Bioware's reaction to the fans concerns, and the responding tweet was "Not everyone has played the game. We are listening." I am wondering if Bioware already HAS something planned for us, sitting back reading all our forums and polls and things with a bit sinister grin, and just waiting for the game to release in Japan on the 15th before announcing the trump card they are hiding up their sleeve? Chances are, it will be Monday before we hear anything official, which gives the Japanese about 4 days to play through the game.

Food for thought, perhaps.

[Skirata129]

Fjordgnu wrote...

You'd have to sell five endings for each lost sale, though. You also have to consider people who wouldn't pay for the new endings. Any profit you made would be far smaller than 10 - 20%.

but we don't know what the specific numbers would be, and neither does EA, which is exactly why this could be a test. they aren't planning on doing it with mass effect, but they are EXTREMELY curious as to whether it can be done.

[Godwhacker]

If they decide to charge people, it's going to sink Bioware.

[count_4]

The day EA charges extra for the proper ending of a game like ME3 is the day the internet will actually wipe out a big games developer/publisher for the first time.
They wouldn't survive the backlash and neither would BioWare.

Modifié par count_4, 13 mars 2012 - 03:35 .

[HyperionTheGreat]

Yeah the scariest thing in life is when you get so paranoid that suddenly everything that has been done actually makes sense.

I have thought of the possibility and I've come to one conclusion, whether or not I am right I can not prove it, so I must wait and bide my time. Hopefully it will be just a bad joke on our account.


Also after an ending like that charging for this "theoretical DLC" will end up badly for them.

Modifié par HyperionTheGreat, 13 mars 2012 - 03:36 .

[heretica]

emp6 wrote...

I've actually considered this too. But I don't think that the suits of EA would have allowed this. Thats not the way EA makes business.

really? because I thought of this too but I'm not so sure anymore....

[ElectronicPostingInterface]

A pure ending DLC may not be the answer.

A DLC that unlocks a truly good ending as well as additional content (added for fans who complained) is a good deal that will leave everyone happy..ish. Better then what we have now.

[Dilandau3000]

I dislike EA a lot, but I don't think they're stupid enough to use the grand finale of a major franchise for an incredibly risky, hair-brained pilot scheme like that

[Tequila Man]

kunzite wrote...

Well, following the tweets from @masseffect over the weekend, and anytime the topic of the endings is brought up, we get a canned 'Thanks for the feedback' reply. There was one particular tweet, however, and now I cant find it in the sea of them, that @masseffect was asked when we are going to hear something regarding Bioware's reaction to the fans concerns, and the responding tweet was "Not everyone has played the game. We are listening." I am wondering if Bioware already HAS something planned for us, sitting back reading all our forums and polls and things with a bit sinister grin, and just waiting for the game to release in Japan on the 15th before announcing the trump card they are hiding up their sleeve? Chances are, it will be Monday before we hear anything official, which gives the Japanese about 4 days to play through the game.

Food for thought, perhaps.

If that were true, the American Fleet, 27thWing can firmly say we held the line and did not give in until ending reinforcements arrived.

[Unit-Alpha]

Doesn't matter, if they fix this with paid DLC, I'm not buying their games again until they are under $20.

Free DLC and I'll continue to buy them.

[tamperous]

This theory makes no economic, anyone who dumps the console game onto the used market in the next couple weeks instead of replaying the game is a lost sale as someone saves a few bucks on a used copy. If there's a lot of rage the used price drops faster and more people choose used at an earlier point.

So if i sold my copy, even if new endings came out and I wanted to buy the DLC, I'm not going to buy a brand new replacement copy to play a 30 minute mission. I could just borrow a copy at some point and replay from some save point I have earlier in the game. Just keep your saves is all you need to do.

[emp6]

Catt128 wrote...

emp6 wrote...

I've actually considered this too. But I don't think that the suits of EA would have allowed this. Thats not the way EA makes business.

really? because I thought of this too but I'm not so sure anymore....

Just think about how much people would be involved in this wo need to be silent. EA, Bioware, Microsoft. And you have to consider that they are people out there with Core/Arcade Xboxes that can't download the DLC or people with the old 20GB HDD that is already full. 

I don't say it's impossible but the chances are near zero.

[Alamar2078]

At this point I will NOT attribute MALICE to Bioware's decison.

At this point I hope B/W intended for the game to end in a dream / indoctrination sequence. The perfect ending [destroy reapers with 5K+ EMS] shows Shep breaking free of the dream.

What annoys me though is that as a consumer I did not expect nor want the game to end with a long dream sequence. I wanted something where not only would my choices would matter but I could see what impacts [short or long term] the choices had. I did NOT get this ending in spades.

On the other hand I do suspect that Bioware understood the pain they would cause some [many?] with an ending such as this. To then go ahead with a decision that they knew would inflict pain may not be malicious but borders on "unethical" if this is true. [God I hope it is NOT true!!!!!!!!!]

If we have to pay for a DLC to get the "real" ending that we expect [and I beleive deliberately were expected to believe by BW] that would be among the lowest things that I've seen the gaming industry sink to.

Modifié par Alamar2078, 13 mars 2012 - 03:46 .