Ex-Mass Effect dev pleads: "judge DLC based on what it is"
"Stop thinking you're a producer."
A former Mass Effect designer has pleaded for gamers to judge downloadable content for what it is - not when it is released.
Ex-BioWare staff member Christina Norman, now employed at League of Legends studio Riot Games, spoke out in defence of her former employer during a session at GDC and stressed the need for downloadable content to follow a game's release quickly.
"There's no point in releasing DLC a year after your game has come out when most people have already sold your game back to GameStop three times," Norman claimed.
"That means getting it out early; that means even day-one DLC."
But gamers need to understand that providing extra content on day-one does not mean the basic boxed product is lacking, Norman continued.
"[Day-one DLC] is a terrible thing to some players. Players rant - they know nothing about this DLC that's coming out except its name. But then it's 'oh this game must be incomplete, the game must be ruined.' Game developers are not evil. (Some are evil.) But most are not evil.
"We just want to release awesome stuff. Players please, give us a chance. Judge our games based on what they are. Judge the DLC based on what it is.
"Stop thinking you're a producer and telling us when and where we should be building our content."
Fan furore over the DLC reached new heights over the weekend when it emerged that data for From Ashes' downloadable character was already included in Mass Effect 3's core game files.