A lot of flak has fallen on EA Games from dedicated fans this week when the third installment in the Mass Effect series was released March 5. Fans across Internet forums and gaming websites gave reviews and ratings either raving or rage-ridden. The problem most people have with the game is the additional tidbits of story that accompany the game which must be purchased separately. 

If you bought the game as a new copy you got some bonuses, but you had to buy a deluxe copy of this game to grab an optional piece of downloadable content. So far this really doesn’t sound so bad, but the problem lies with how important this extra little bit is to the actual game. The downloadable content includes a character belonging to, and with it the history of, the most mysterious race in the whole series. These are figures shrouded in legacy and secrets, with their very existence as an important plot point.

EA has you paying $60 for a copy of the game, you’d think you have purchased the whole game. No, you have to purchase this extra content in addition to the cost of the game to have the full experience. 

It’s like buying a book only to find out the second to last chapter is sold separately.

It gives the impression that the DLC, titled “From Ashes” was held onto with the purpose of selling it for a more profit. 

BioWare, the creators of the game, has specifically said the DLC was made after much of the game was going through licensing, but how many people believe them when this content was released on the very same day the game was? 

It’s hard to make an excuse for this business tactic. It makes the fans of Mass Effect wonder if, even in the short time that has been this industry’s life, the corporate section of EA has the forgotten how sharp their fans are. 

The idea of making content exclusive material stems from an idea utilized in Mass Effect 2, where a code found on the original game box could be used once for extra content. This was a small package with a side mission and some armor and weapons that had no huge impact on the game. 

One could get past the gimmicky multi-player mode, which is required to be played to actually finish the game, but finding ways to break up the game into more parts that can be sold separately is an issue that merits an adjustment to the ethics of the video game industry.