Mass Effect Andromeda Actor Blames EA for Game's Failure

Tom Taylorson, the voice actor behind Mass Effect Andromeda's male protagonist Ryder, says EA screwed the game over.

Andromeda launched in 2017 with the impossible task of following Mass Effect 3. Commander Shepard and the Normandy crew were out, replaced by customizable protagonist Ryder and a new cast. The galaxy-ending stakes vanished too, swapped for a smaller-scale adventure meant to set up future sequels.

The game didn't meet fan expectations. Reviews landed somewhere between mediocre and decent - nowhere near the original trilogy's heights. Fans judged what they got: an unpolished mess loaded with bugs that made the deeper problems with its content and story even worse.

"I think, like many, the game got a bum rap," Taylorson told fansite We Are Mass Effect. "It was done dirty by a publisher expecting too much from it, not being fully cooked, forced out the door too early, forced to use corporate's shiny new engine when many of the team didn't know how to work with it and it was NOT suited to the storytelling part of the game."

"On top of that, it was released to a VERY toxic atmosphere online and elsewhere in the gaming space," Taylorson continued. "It quickly became punching bag of the week for online chuds for views and clicks. Their love of hate sealed the deal. What saddens me is that this would not be the last time I was in a project doomed by online haters picking a game for Punching Bag of The Week: I also worked on Highguard.

"Over time though, I've seen a lot of love for the game and its characters, for what it did well, and appreciation from fans for whom it was their game of the moment. A game that helped them, a game that got them through a tough time. There is something to be said for a 7/10 that comes to you in a time of need."

Taylorson said he was "disappointed, obviously" in Andromeda's reception, and "felt terrible" for the BioWare Montreal staff whose work was panned. EA patched the game for months after launch, but ultimately put the franchise on ice — killing any chance of single-player DLC or sequels that could build on Andromeda's foundations like Mass Effect 2 and 3 did with the first game.