‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ News: Bad Reviews Reflect BioWare Bro Culture, Says Former Dev

Mass Effect: Andromeda has been subject to scornful glances and middling reviews since it released Tuesday, and a now-removed BioWare employee assessment may offer insight into the game’s troubling development. A thread on NeoGAF captured the response that claims cultural and workforce mishaps.

Among the litany of complaints, the supposed BioWare Montreal visual effects specialist suggested “BioWare Edmonton and Montreal symbiosis is broken” due to “conflicts [and] bro culture.” It’s said that over the past five years in which Andromeda was in development the project lost a total of 13 leads related to design, art, audio and more.”

Read: Mass Effect: Andromeda PC Settings Guide For Maximum Performance

There’s also mention of inside-baseball workplace policy too. An initiative called Performance Improvement Program is described as gradual way to lay off employees that are “not bending to Edmonton leadership styles.” Crunch time, which is tough for any development team, is internally referred to as Finaling Mode. The period lasted over two months and was called “a real catastrophe” despite the free lunch.

As terrible as all of that sounds, however, we’d advise taking it with a grain of salt. Not only do questions remain over why this specific review was removed, but, even if true, it’s also told from a single perspective. There may be unknown reasons for this particular person to feel bitter, and the accusations may not even be true. That being said, the specificity of the assessment’s wording certainly contributes to its veracity.

It’s also worth recalling that some key departures from the Mass Effect: Andromeda team are well documented. At the end of 2015, studio development director Chris Wynn left the company. He was followed by writer Chris Schlerf the following February. Schlerf had only been involved with Andromeda for about four months before calling it quits. Senior editor Cameron Harris said goodbye to all of gaming last April. Cycling of employees is common in the games industry, but it’s symptomatic of bigger problems when it’s happening to higher-ups in the middle of a massive endeavor.

While the extent of BioWare’s apparent disorganization is unknown, the reviews of Mass Effect: Andromeda aren’t exactly a reflection of unity. The game has an average rating of 75 on Metacritic, and the title’s odd facial animations reached meme status hours after an early access preview went live last week.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is available now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Do you think this employee’s assessment of BioWare is accurate? Does it reflect Andromeda’s low review scores? Tell us in the comments section!