ASA Rules That Mass Effect Advertising Is Not Misleading

Written by: Austin Regimbal (Twitter @austinreg - Google+) | June 14, 2012 6:30 am

27 Comments

You may have heard that people don’t really dig the ending to Mass Effect 3.

In fact, a lot of folks actually kind of loathe it.

So much so that a group of vocal gamers complained to the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority, claiming that EA falsely advertised exactly how much in-game decisions affected Mass Effect 3‘s ending.

According to Gamasutra,

The ASA has now said that while it understands that consumers may feel that they could not influence the game’s story as much as advertised, it considers the three choices at the end of the game, plus the effectiveness of the ending based on the player’s “Effective Military Strength” score, to be enough such that the advertising was in fact not misleading.

If you’re one of the many who disliked the Mass Effect ending, at least you can take solace that the “Extended Cut” DLC is coming eventually.

Right? RIGHT?

For all of your Mass Effect 3 news, including — hopefully — the eventual release date of the “Extended Cut” DLC, stay tuned to GAMEBREAKER.

ASA Rules That Mass Effect Advertising Is Not Misleading

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=21003660 Keith William Gretton

I think it’s a generation of writers that is doing this, it really is sloppy but if you can identify them then you know which products to avoid because they have had a hand in them. Case in point, the same screenwriter for Prometheus Damon Lindelof was also a lead writer of ‘Lost’.
http://twitter.com/ookamiwing Phillip Rushing

Unless you play the muliplayer,
Spoiler!

Shepard will die no matter which of the 3 options you pick. So if you only played the single player doing all the side quest just unlocks the 3rd choice which is to make human robot hybrid thingies.
http://www.facebook.com/rammur65 Roger Means

I dont think people even know wtf they are complaining about they are only complainin because a very vocal bunch decided they wanted to cry because they didnt get a ending THEY wanted either way they will have some future dlc too keep some happy.
- http://twitter.com/BillMcD Alan
  
  or you could bring the ending before any English major and let them rail on how objectively bad the ending is since the story falls apart in the last 15 minutes.
  
  Downer endings don’t excuse bad writing.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz
  
  It’s not about what ending I wanted, it’s about an ending that made sense. Don’t tell ME why I or OTHERS are upset with an ending. If tragedy was so horrible, why did Red Dead Redemption get the positive feedback that it did? Because the writing was good, the death made sense and it fit the established lore. ME3′s ending made ZERO sense. I’ll mention the most obvious thing that is obvious to anyone: why is the Normandy in the middle of a jump? Why is the Normandy even in danger while in the middle of a jump? The jump is supposed to be instant. Zero sense to what was going on and zero explanation. They couldn’t have been going to the citadel to get Shepard because the citadel was in the sol system. Just one of the many cluster f*cks that proved whoever made the ending didn’t know what was going on in the story leading to the ending.
  - csm
    
    The ending made perfect sense. Thing is people acting out of character (Shepard just rolls over on the kid and accepts everything) or appearing out of nowhere (Anderson was supposed to behind you, the EC shows this. Or Illusive Man just appears out of nowhere) is classic dream content.
    
    From the point where Shepard gets knocked out by Harbinger (or the Mako crashes, depending how to look at it) to the point where he wakes up again, isn’t really happening. The Extended Cut ends before the “breath scene”, which can only be accessed by picking the destroy option with the highest level of EMS. They did say that if you want the best ending, you have to work for it.
    
    Now all you guys have read this, and you choose not to believe it. Instead of believing something crazy like that, you choose to believe that the writers, beta testers, and everybody working on this game made the ending as if they were drunk or stoned.
    
    Just like what was said during the game to remind you…They’d rather believe that then face the truth.
    
    Sometimes the only sane explanation to an insane ending is insanity (some crazy theory). You can’t take a non-literal ending and make it into a literal ending. That’s exactly what you want them to do. You want them to take the dream thing and make it so Shepard did magically blow up on the Citadel, fall through Earth’s atmosphere and wake up back on Earth. Or you still think that Shepard is on the Citadel even though you saw it blew up into a million pieces.
http://twitter.com/DaPhoolz Rp TheFoolz

it’s definitely the indoctrination.

the netflixdotcomslashgamebreakertv that is….

also your outfit is seriously fits for DayZ.

and yeah, i’m sure we all see it coming about ME3. someone just hope something will change, but it just won’t.
http://twitter.com/Peter_aka_Tab23 Peter

Shepard wakes up back in ME1. And Realizes that everything was a…….wait for it…….Dream. BOOM!
http://www.facebook.com/Jamandos Joshua Lee

Has it been said what would have happened to BioWare if they were found guilty of false advertising?

On another note, I find it absolutely maddening that some better business bureau would take it upon themselves to try and investigate ME3. The ending may or may not have sucked, but they produced a game, it had 3 optional outcomes, they fulfilled their agreement.

How many games have been released that absolutely did not deliver what was advertised? I can imagine a TON, so why is BioWare being singled out?

Side note: I’m not a Bioware fanboy, I hate Swtor just like any other ex-precu swg player.
- Bluecewe
  
  My understanding is that the ASA is a non-governmental organization which has no direct power, though it gives out warnings to broadcasters as well as the public through its website. If there are many complaints for a specific advert, it can refer the issue to Ofcom, who provide licenses to UK TV channels, and can also refer it to the Office of Fair Trading, which can fine companies.
  
  Thus, a fine would have been a possibility. TV channels may have also been advised to evaluate adverts from EA before broadcasting them, but that would have been very unlikely, as EA does not have a trend of false advertising.
http://twitter.com/TheGamingRaptor Daniel O’Neal

What happened to Mass Effect, is exactly what Valve is afraid of when it comes to Half-Life 3. Valve has already admit to it before, “How do you end Half-Life?” Yes, you may hate an ending, but sometimes, it’s good to step away from the “Happily Ever After” style ending.

It’s getting to the point that every end to a series is becoming predictable, it’s a good thing that writers are trying to change things up, not just for games, but for movies as well.

People are calling ME3 a bad game based on the end alone. Me, as a huge Mass Effect fan, seeing these comments from other passionate fans, just makes me face-palm.

The extended cut for ME3 is rumored to be coming with the next MP DLC titled: Earth. We’ll see how fans react when it comes.
- David Alcon
  
  ME3 has many issues, but the ending is what gets the most flack because it left such a bad taste in people’s mouth. In all, ME3 was the weakest of the trilogy. I’m not saying its because Drew Karpyshan (sp?) was pulled as a lead writer to work on SWTOR, but its because Drew Karpyshan (sp?) was pulled as a lead writer to work on SWTOR. /ancientaliens
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz
  
  The ending made the entire story pointless. Too many inconsistencies within the ending that contradict the game’s own lore. Not to mention that we were told “We will not provide an ending a la deus ex”. This is something that was specifically said by the developers. Not to mention that the endings really are the same with a different colored beam and it eater cuts out of the scene early or a bit later. There is NO real difference and the fact that they doomed so many people to death, the fact that you didn’t even have the option to go against what the star kid is saying even though in the two previous games you had the option to do what YOU wanted to do rather than listen to anyone. It all goes against what the other two games had set up. Also, it was the last in the trilogy, so they could have given us vastly different endings. ME3 might have been a fun game until the last 10 minutes but ME1 $ 2 both wipe the floor with it. ME3 ended up killing its own trilogy for too many people. Most of the people aren’t complaining about a “happy” ending, this is a pathetic reason that many of the ME3 supporters came up with. People are complaining because of the BAD ending, bad as in incomplete. I loooved Red Dead Redemption, you know why? The story was incredible and the ending made sense to the character. Did I expect the game to end happily? I actually did. Was I disappointed by the twist at the end? Nowhere near it, and neither were a huge majority of the other players. No one is complaining about tragedy, we’re complaining about cohesion. Too many things happened in ME3 that had no connection to anything, too many things that were hinted at but never evolved, too many things that were left unanswered. There was no twist in ME3, it was a pathetic attempt to create a surprise ending that didn’t match any of the already established lore and structure of the game.
- Chip Burden
  
  I have to agree with Daniel. The ending wasn’t what I was hoping for, but it doesn’t make the entire rest of the game bad. Also, I can’t believe that BW would cave to a bunch of rabid fans. The story of a video game is a work of art, just like a novel or a movie. If you don’t like the way a book or movie ends, you have every right to be upset. You have every right to say, “I’m not going to read/watch anything else from this writer.” What I think is unreasonable is asking, or in this case actually *demanding* that the creator of that art change it. It is Bioware’s art. You can like it or not, you can appreciate it or not, but you can’t make them change it, because it isn’t yours.
http://www.facebook.com/chaz.rpg Chaz Davis

MikeB is really awesome, some of the best GBVT has to offer.

No wonder Bioware named their newer planet in swtor after him
http://twitter.com/crocodilius ryan phillips

I liked the ending where Joker gets it on with the robot.
The only thing about the ending that ever bothered me is how
much you have to know/do to save Anderson.
http://profile.yahoo.com/THJWE4XEXAMAPW3CUGPFYCUDHE Prime

The problem is thre is the bad trend of “never happily ever after”. Either the world has gotten so dark 3/4 of people are becomming dark and seeing through darkglasses and that all they see…or the game industry are proving they are lemmings.

How many EFFING heroes wear BLACK? trenchcoats? leather?

Yea….

“ITS OK to make happy ening guys…stop being lemmings..”
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johnson/1353890372 Michael Johnson

Bioware aren’t “bad” writers, but they’re definitely the most overrated.
When people think of story in video games, they think of Bioware for the same reason people think of Call of Duty when people think of FPS

It’s the same prepackaged garbage that is passed off as art.
http://twitter.com/borded nathan law

im pretty sure the advertising claimed almost infinite endings, and unless by almost infinite you mean effectively two different endings (Sheppard lives Sheppard dies) and a different coloured rainbow.
- Old Ben
  
  Two is as close to infinity as any other number.
  - http://twitter.com/borded nathan law
    
    yeah im pretty sure if i promise someone an unlimited amount of money to do something for me and i give them two bucks im gonna be taken to court, why is ea getting away with it?
http://profile.yahoo.com/THJWE4XEXAMAPW3CUGPFYCUDHE Prime

SWTOR has 5million subs. Mass effect 3 end ing was perfect! Dude at E3 didnty BEG people to join them…..The ASA are idiots. nuff said.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz
  
  5 million subs? On what planet? Quit trolling. You weren’t dropped as a baby, you were thrown.
http://profile.yahoo.com/THJWE4XEXAMAPW3CUGPFYCUDHE Prime

Extended cut WAS NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE END the said “alittle change nothing major”

I wanna like Austin….but hes starting to get on my nerves
pc11

The amount of different branching stories and endings that would result from incorporating every major decision we made over the 3 games would be insane. The game would never be done.

Plus I like the ending. It makes sense and I am happy it wasnt like a fucking Michael Bay moving with Shepard walking to the horizon while a giant “USA” flag waves or a white dove or another shit like that.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz
  
  No one is asking for EVERY possible ending. People are asking for actual choices. Apparently people can’t comprehend such a simple concept.
Kagitaar

It really quite amuses me when I see people who were satisfied with the ending, as I can not for the life of me understand the sentiment. The last act, and more-so the least 15m, has so many plot holes that I wonder if the same writers from the rest of the game and series were the ones who finished it, or the ones who mutilated DA2′s story.

As has been said, dark endings are fine where appropriate, I personally thought Shepard was going to die the whole time, but if the story goes off the rails, that is going to ruffle feathers. In the same vein, vague endings can be okay as well, but when they are inappropriate, such as at the end of a massive trilogy, you are going to get pissed fans.

ASA Rules That Mass Effect Advertising Is Not Misleading

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