Mass Effect 3 ending complaints rejected by ASA

UK advertising regulator the ASA has rejected complaints the customers had been misled about the extent in which they could create their own Mass Effect 3 ending.

The Advertising Standards Authority had received a number of complaints that EA had mislead consumers by stating in its adverts “the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome”.

The complaints stated that EA had “misleadingly exaggerated the variety of outcomes available in the game and the differences between the outcomes”.

“We considered that the three choices at the end of the game were thematically quite different, and that the availability and effectiveness of those choices would be directly determined by a player’s EMS score, which was calculated with reference to previous performance in the game(s),” read a statement from the ASA.

“We also acknowledged that there appeared to be a large number of minor variations in the end stages of ME3, and that those were directly impacted by choices made by players earlier in the game(s).

“Whilst we acknowledged that the advertiser had placed particular emphasis on the role that player choices would play in determining the outcome of the game, we considered that most consumers would realise there would be a finite number of possible outcomes within the game and, because we considered that the advertiser had shown that players’ previous choices and performance would impact on the ending of the game, we concluded that the ad was not misleading.”

In response to the furore from a number of users over the game’s ending, BioWare is currently developing an ‘extended cut’ DLC to expand on the events at the end of the trilogy in an attempt to appease its customers and offer more closure.