10 Ridiculous Reasons Video Games Were Blamed For Failing
9. Too Much RPG Competition - Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect: Andromeda certainly had one hell of a rough launch, with critics and players alike lambasting its array of technical issues, comically janky facial animations, and uneven story.
Though ultimately a commercial success, analysts widely perceived it as underperforming compared to the two prior games in the series.
Long-time BioWare employee Mark Darrah, who worked on the game, attempted to carry out some damage control shortly after release, claiming that Andromeda suffered primarily from releasing in a crowded market. Darrah said:
"I think it came out in a really really busy window in March, perhaps the busiest window in the history of the gaming industry where five RPGs released in the same month. It came out in the same month as Zelda."
Yet it's difficult to see where Darrah is finding five RPGs released within the same month as Andromeda - yes, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Nier: Automata, but the slate wasn't nearly as crammed as he suggested.
More to the point, Mass Effect is a hugely popular IP, and had it been up to the expected standard there's absolutely no chance it would've markedly underperformed against anything.