Players of the Bioware game Mass Effect 3 who dislike the open-ended ending may complain to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau.
According to blogger Chris Morris, a user called “El Spiko” posted on the Bioware forums that he’s complained to the FTC about the trilogy’s resolution and is calling on other disgruntled fans to do the same.
“After reading through the list of promises about the ending of the game they made in their advertising campaign and PR interviews, it was clear that the product we got did not live up to any of those claims,” he wrote. “…after the terrible ending that was in no way the product that had been advertised to me and the lack of any kind of response from Bioware/EA to address this, I felt it was one of my only recourses.”
According to Morris, “Before complaining to the Feds, gamers launched the usual online protests, including a petition and a charity drive…”
I didn’t find either of the Facebook pages he mentions by searching within FB: pro-ending “Keep Mass Effect” or anti-ending “Retake Mass Effect 3,” but Mortz states that the Retake Mass Effect 3 page amassed some 42,000 supporters, and that a Twitter account has over 4,000 followers.
Within FB I did find a blog by Jonathan Holmes, who demands in his response “Retake Mass Effect? Let’s REMAKE Mass Effect” that Bioware make the game exactly like Super Mario Brothers.
Bioware hasn’t made any commitments to address the issue, but is said to have acknowledged the complaints on FB as follows (although again, I couldn’t find it using the FB search box.)
“We are aware that there are concerns about a recent post from this account regarding the ending of the game. In this post it was stated that at this time we do not have plans to change the ending. We would like to clarify that we are actively and seriously taking all player feedback into consideration and have ruled nothing out. At this time we are still collecting and considering your feedback and have not made a decision regarding requests to change the ending.
“Your feedback and opinions are of the utmost importance to us. We apologize for any confusion this has caused. Our top priority regarding this discussion is to keep communication with you, our loyal fans, open and productive.”
What do you think? Did you like the Mass Effect 3 ending? If you didn’t, does it ruin all three games for you or just the one?
I am surprised you were unable to find those really easy to find links. What kind of ‘search engine’ are you using anyway? Yahoo or something?
The main page for the Retake movement:
http://retakemasseffect.tumblr.com/
Statistics of what the movements has achieved so far:
http://r3stats.net/
Retake movement Twitter account
https://twitter.com/#!/retakeme3
Retake movement facebook pages
https://www.facebook.com/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3
Retake movement poll about what to do with the ending
http://social.bioware.com/633606/polls/28989/
Retake movement related links
http://social.bioware.com/forums/forum/1/topic/355/index/9780311/1
Retake movement charity drive for Child’s Play main page
http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play
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If you search for “Retake Mass Effect 3″ you should find plenty. Here are the two facebook pages:
http://www.facebook.com/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3
http://www.facebook.com/groups/344005192318904/?ref=ts
Also, it should be pointed out that the use of “fans”, plural, is as far as is known, inaccurate. Only one fan has followed this route and is not part of the same movement requesting an expansion of choice in a series based on choices, or closure for the characters which allowed it to become so emotionally effective.
The fans in the Retake Mass Effect 3 movement have also pushed along a charity drive for Childs Play and have raised over 72000 USD since March 13:
http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play
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The Facebook page is DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3, with over 47,000 likes. If you typed “Retake ME3″ into Google, you would have found it on the first page of results.
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And please mention the fact that the charity drive from Retake ME3 movement, has amounted up to over $70,000 USD in less than a week.
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http://www.facebook.com/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3
We have already stated that the opinion of the individual filing the FTC complaint is not that of Retake ME3. We prefer to donate to the Child’s Play charity than file lawsuits.
http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play
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The beginning of this article is misleading. You state that “players” who didn’t like the ending are going to the FTC. As far as I’m aware only El_Spiko has done this, and he DOES NOT have the support of the Retake Mass Effect movement. This should be made clear.
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Yes the endings were not up to the quality of the rest of the series. The producer claimed he wanted for players to use their imagination with the ending. I paid $80 for a complete story not to have to fill in the blanks.
And yes, the entire trilogy is tarnished and my opinion of bioware lessens every day while they “collect information”. Bioware needs to issue a definitive statement regarding the endings ie they will be releasing dlc to answer questions or they will be leaving the endings and we just have to deal with it.
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The FTC complaint is by one person. The Retake Mass Effect movement does want different endings/more clarification on the ending we got, but is not going through any legal channels to do so. Petitions have been made and signed, a charity drive (benefiting Child’s Play) is taking place, but nothing that would truly damage Bioware as a company. The reason for the movement is because of our love for Bioware’s storytelling that somehow was totally forsaken in the ending ten minutes.
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We want events in the endgame to follow logically from previous events. We do not want to see the rules of the game changed in its final moments. To change the rules of a game is to change the game. For example, we do not want to see an arbitrary—-and radical—-change in the Reapers’ motivations, from what we know from ME1 and 2. We want to see our war assets actively contributing to the effort, having an impact in the course of events. We want the fate of our ship and crew to fit cogently in that course of events.
These are very general outlines, that make no ‘positive’ prescriptions; they rather lay out the necessary constraints under which BW ought to rewrite the end.
We are not petitioning for any specific ending. We are petitioning only for an ‘ending framework’ that is logically sound.
BioWare’s job should be to make that framework rock-solid, and give us the chance to ‘write our bit of the end’ within those well-defined constraints. BioWare promised to deliver exactly this before release; and they did not honor their promise. We want to see this rectified; that’s all we’re asking.
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For me the ending ruined all three games and bioware EA broke all promises that it had made with consumer stating multiple ending and wrapping up the story line leaving nothing to question i do however feel that complaining to the FTC was a step that has not been warrenetd at least not if bioware catagorically states that it will not release post ending DLC to fix the ending then going to the FTC would be warrented but he was well within his rights as a consumer to do so if he felt he was lied too.
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Thanks for the feedback, all. Andy, I appreciate you pointing that out. I orginally said “are complaining” but decided it was more accurate to say “may complain.”
What are some other favorite games for you folks?
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Thank you for the clarification and quick response Holly!
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ME3′s ending is an abomination.
It felt like enjoying a three course meal at a fine restaurant …
… but the very last bite was pure fecal matter.
As you are regurgitating all three courses …
… the waiter reminds you to buy desert,
… asks what your favorite part of the meal was,
… and informs you it was deliberate,
… so you would have something to talk about afterwards.
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People are rightly upset that a 120+ hour investment of their time plus the cost of all three games and associated content gets basically torn apart in the last 10 minutes.
Especially given the producer and developer quotes SPECIFICALLY saying this wouldn’t happen (you wouldn’t be given a canned ABC ending). Even beyond that the ending makes zero sense and is filled with giant plot holes.
It’s a unique situation in a couple of ways,
1) They sold this as a trilogy, where your choices would matter through all 3 games. They do not in the end.
2) Everyone absolutely loves the games, it’d be the trilogy of the decade if not all time game-wise if they fixed a tiny part of it – 10 mins of 120 hours.
3) The debate over whether ‘gamers’ – I’d use consumers, are being entitled in asking for a product they feel falls vastly short of their expectations (primarily given to them by the producer). I don’t see this argument in many (any?) other industries.
It’s certainly interesting and I don’t think this is a vocal minority. It’s clearly a huge issue in a huge game (3.5m units so far?). When does the $60bn gaming industry start playing like the rest of the consumer based industries out there I wonder.
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In truth, all three games will have been ruined for the biggest fans of the series. All replay value has been removed from not just Mass Effect 3, but from Mass Effect 1 and 2 as well. The biggest fans, the ones who are most upset, are also the ones who were likely to sink hundreds of dollars into DLC, swag, action figures and other branded merchandise.
I believe the business model of EA, and effectively of BioWare, has become one of crank out the next big AAA game and not care if the customer likes it or not. We sucker them in, take their money, and there’s no recourse for them. BioWare *did* infact mislead their fan base, ultimately the consumer, by saying things that just weren’t true. There are press releases, pre-release interviews, forum posts, etc saying they wouldn’t do exactly what they did. “We don’t want fans to have an ending that’s A, B, or C” yet, that’s exactly what they did. “All the choices fans have made in the series will affect the over all outcome of the game” Quite the opposite, actually, in the end, none of your choices matter the game comes down to three color coded identical endings.
Probably the biggest lie of them all comes in the form “From Ashes”, a dayone release of DLC that players were charged 10$ for. BioWare stated frequently the content was developed post game and was released “early”. However, interviews in the documentary “The Final Hours” reveal the content was REMOVED from the original game to be sold as DAY ONE DLC.
Yes, the consumer has every right to be angry. This particular trend is something EA has done for far too long, and I think it’s explotation of the consumer. The consumer has no fall back save not buying future games or content. They can’t return it. One could compare it to buying other media, but this isn’t a book or movie where you’re out 20$. This set people back 60-80 bucks.
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I believe that Bioware did deliberately mislead their fans. At this point though I prefer not to involve the FTC or BBB as I would like to try to work with Bioware more directly to get this issue resolved. For now I believe that is the right thing to do.
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Hi Holly,
one of my favourite games is Fallout 3 for example. It had a terrible ending too, that made you think \what the hell were they thinking\. But they changed the ending with DLC. It took them some time though…
But Fallout 3 had the benefit of a very active mod scene and the \customers\ fixed the ending themselves, sadly this is not possible with Mass Effect 3.
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Oops … I should have said that I do believe the endings of the game tainted the rest of the series. I wouldn’t say that this is solely because of the broken promises but at least is partially due to poor writing for the target audience.
A wider variety of endings where the choices you make in the game and in prior games [as promised by Bioware] would go a long way to making things better.
Of course some things can’t easily be fixed. In any game where you meet a god-like character that is not really hinted at in the game and this god-like character fixes the problems for you this isn’t really a sparkling example of a satisfying ending.
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The whole series has been ruined for me, and I put in hundreds of hours into ME 1 & 2, I played every single class, played male and female characters, paragon and renegade, romanced every love interest, believe when I say I really enjoyed the hell out of those games. I wish I hadn’t bought the PC version of 3, because now I can’t return it and am stuck with this stinker.
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BioWare isn’t really going to do any thing about this. They’ve already made the ending. It’s not like you can take the memory you have of mass effect 3 and erase it. The only thing they can do, through my eyes, is to make one last mass effect game. Honesty…the ENDING is horrible…and when I say “ending” I mean the end of the series for mass effect as a whole. If there were another game coming involving Shepard I can understand. So I think BioWare should make a mass effect 4. They’ve left unanswered questions and mystery just as Casey Hudson said. So it shouldn’t be hard to make a 4th one should it?
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This is getting sadder by the day. I’m all for people complaining about the ending of ME3 (or any game, book, movie, TV show, etc), but no one has a right to demand the creator change it.
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I don’t think the majority are demanding anything, they’re telling a company (Bioware), that they don’t like a very small part of an otherwise amazing product. Ultimately it’s up to Bioware to cost analyze whether it’s worth fixing it versus loss of customer base. It’s a business decision, and consumers have every right to give them feeback on their product so they can make that decision.
I’m pretty sure the execs at Bioware are not sitting around the boardroom saying ‘Oh we can’t change the ending it’s artistic license.’ They pay the writers to make a product, that they sell for profit. Lets be clear about that.
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The ening of mass effect 3 ruined my entire experience. What I understood from the beginning was that my choices throughout all 3 games would affect the story and ending. For that reason I invested time trying to effect the story and ending in many different ways. It was also stated my questions would be answered and there would be a satisfying conclusion. The game ended and I was left with no answers, no differences based upon my earlier decisions, and no conclusion. The moment credits rolled I wished that I had never spent money on this series.
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Thanks for your comments, you guys. I haven’t played the game–Solotalento, that Fallout 3 sounds interesting. Personally (not speaking for the BBB here) I can think of a few *movies* that were ruined for me by the ending. It doesn’t seem to work that way for my husband, but it does for me.
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I did not like the ending, and it made it hard for me to want to replay the game over. Whenever I try starting it up again, I get discouraged because the ending, no matter what my decisions are, will be the same.
I know BioWare advertised the ending to branch off in a “wild variety of directions” or something to that effect. What we got in response to our outcry was (in summary) “the whole game was designed as a conclusion to all the plots from the first two games” and that we were stupid for thinking the final portion of the game was meant to contain any of the “wildly different conclusions” that were promised.
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Although I was initially shocked that someone was upset enough to go to the feds, I read about that before I actually finished the game. Now that I have finished it, I’m actually glad someone had the chutzpah to make a formal legal complaint. as far a a product, this was clearly an example, to me, of false advertizing. As a consumer of games, I’m glad that there are legal actions seeking to protect the expectations of consumers in videogames. EA has deleoped and alarming habit of swooping in on a franchise, churning out sequels, and ruining the imaginations of their customers. Serioulsy, if they really wanted to they could have done so much more with this last game to expand the universe to make way for other titles- which we would then line up for en mas. The ending to this game instead destroyed the universe. The End, Thanks for your cash. Never mind all those promises we made, or the time you invested in our product.
Thats not ok, and I’m tired of developers getting away with it… well, they’re probably going to get away with it again, but this time they know that we’re not just nerd raging.
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The ending in ME3 was fine by me.I for once , didn’t expect it to turn out like that so no complaints from me.People need to realize this is after all still a game not The Matrix movie where you expect certain type of conclusion/ending.
What counts is the meat and potatoes of the game and that is combat,graphics,dialogues,acting,voice-overs,atmosphere,music,choice of weapons,storyline and so so much more that makes a game what it is.
A lot of (if not most) Hollywood movies are way more misleading in their advertisements than Bioware’s ME series.Almost every Hollywood movie I ever saw was super predictable with a cheese and once again , happy (usually) predictable ending.
SO to me ME didn’t commit any crimes nor should they be responsible for people that didn’t like the ending.I don’t like most of the crap they play in the movies yet each time my g/f drags me to see something I end up paying the price and most of the time I walk out disappointed , albeit not surprised.
The series was great and still is.So the ending wasn’t what some people expected.So what.Get over it.Go sue Rob Zombie for making a HORRIBLE remake of Halloween for example.Who gave that idiot $$$ and the power of directing multimillion dollar projects?I can think of 100 worse things in the media and the world of entertainment than the ending of ME3.
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