Mass Effect 3 wasn’t the first game that disappointed fans with its narrative choices, but it was the first time we’d ever seen a developer completely correct course after a game had already launched. Looking at it years later, the Mass Effect 3 ending backlash was a turning point in fan ownership and entitlement.
The end result was BioWare and EA bending over backward to update the ending with DLC, but the event caused irreparable damage to both BioWare’s reputation and the franchise. But the strengths of the game were completely overshadowed by the extremely negative reaction fans had to its ending. Mass Effecthad quickly become the biggest hit BioWare had ever made, and expectations were high for the third chapter.
In 2012, there were few gaming events bigger than the release of Mass Effect 3, the end to a trilogy that would come to define the way video games approached player choice and consequence.
