Re: Release Date clarification

That's a shame, was afraid to get my hopes up for the 14th, thanks for the info though :D

I don't understand this, why release at 1am AEST on the 15th for PC when I could literally walk into JB HiFi at 9am AEST on the 14th and buy a physical copy for XBOX or PS4.

I took the day off work for this FFS!!!

I wish this was clarified sooner because now I've just wasted an Annual leave day, I'm so sick of being screwed over, its a dang digital version it should make no difference when its released if the physicals are available at 9am AEST on the 14th.

False advertising imo, its been advertised as 14th in Australia for months, and only now days out from launch EA are like "whoops sorry bro, we don't give a rats about you plebs in the southern hemisphere, we really only car about our peeps in north America".

I had thought EA was getting better but this launch tells me otherwise.

I would say I'm shocked but I guess this is just par for the course for EA.

Yeah not gonna lie I was worried about it for a few months. I'm aware of americans doing this a lot so I always try to check. Unfortunately mass effect had one of the worst release date announcements that I have kept track of (i obviously dont follow every product ever). Most of the time they at least confirm the timezone when they say the date so I can figure out myself when it launches. Mass Effect sadly never said anything other than the date which was honestly kind of misleading, this whole time I was planning my friday off so I could play mass effect for 3 days and instead i have to wait til saturday now and only get 2 days. 

I get that they dont want australians uploading gameplay to youtube 12 hours before americans but it's also super SUPER annoying when americans get a game on friday leading into the weekend and we get it for just the 2 days of the weekend before going off to work again on monday. 

@EA_Mako If your information on the 'release timing' is just going to be timezones then i strongly advise you to keep it to yourself. Bioware/EA is sadly months too late to be announcing time zones now, anyone who has annual leave like poor @harneyden is already too late to cancel it, you'll just annoy people even more by putting that info out so late. 

If your info is actually a change of date and its the same time world wide now so aussies get to pick it up on friday then absolutely tell us so we can enjoy our 3 day weekend. 

@harneyden 

About 10 years ago games where released on different days in the US and in Europe, as in 3 days apart. 

No we have a simultaneous launce at the same day and time (May 14, 2021 at 10:00 AM CDT) for everyone, it just happen that for me that is 5:00 PM and for you 1:00 AM on the 15th.

(I know, time zones suck. 😉)

This is also not new nor is it limited to EA, all big developers do it in the same or in a similar way.

@GrimReaperTaken 

Correct info is correct info, no matter if you like it or not.

Cheers @GrimReaperTaken

Very poorly managed from EA, disappointing to say the least.

I have calmed down a bit since I wrote my reply, I'm just worked up because the ME trilogy is super important to me, I loved it since day dot, ME3 came out while I was battling cancer and was a great comfort in those times, I especially connected with Thane's story.

I will survive 1 day, I'll find something else to do on friday. Just wish we had been told sooner.

@holger1405i get that and totally appreciate that.

However all the Australian advertising stated the 14th as the release date. This was the case up until yesterday, only to have that date change dramatically.

1am on the 15th is not even remotely close to the 14th as a release date. That's literally another day. 

And as I said above I could walk into a store at 9am AEST on the 14th, buy a physical copy on PS4 or XBONE be home by 9.30am and be playing it by 10am but somehow PC has to wait for another 15 hours?

I don't have either console so that scenario is not possible for me. 

It's just poor management, and disrespectful to an entire hemisphere of people.

@harneyden 

Yes, different platforms and a different way of distribution, it has nothing to do with disrespect, only with logistics.

I see questions like that for 10 years now, it is nothing new and it will not change.
Even the EU developers set release times that are convenient for the US market, and there will be no additional times for different regions because that would introduce entirely new problems.

That EA could have communicated the Australian PC release date better is no question but as said, it is not new and you will have that in the back of your mind in the future I guess.

@holger1405 disagree completely, you must live in the northern hemisphere in a big region and have never experienced the disregard for an entire region of people.

Logistics as an excuse makes zero sense, it's lazy and an apologist attitude for bad management.

PC being 100% digital should be able to match the physical release date of the product, "logistics" has nothing to do with it, press the button and open up PC at the same time for that region.

I get that you have a vested interest in EA given your position on this forum but please don't insult my intelligence by tossing aside my comments by saying "10 years ago" etc or "it's nothing new", as if I don't know the state of the gaming industry, especially in my own country. 

I worked in a brick and mortar game store back when ME1 was first released as an Xbox 360 exclusive.

At the time we waited ages for releases to make it to Australia, Smash bros Wii was literally 6 months delayed in the Australian region.

Yes there have been improvements with "Simultaneous releases", however when that release occurs for other regions at times that are completely unreasonable for the average person, that is in and of itself, disrespectful.

Doesnt matter if it's EA, Activision, Nintendo whoever, it sends a message to everyone in that region that the company does not really care about the experience people in that region have at launch.

And I do understand that position as well, Australia is tiny compared to UK, Europe and USA.

Profits are much smaller here.

Doesn't excuse it, doesn't make it better and doesn't mean we should just accept that as  the way it is and it's not going to change.

@harneyden 

"Logistics" as in the difference between PC and Consoles. 

I live in Germany, so the release for me is 5PM on the 14th.

I guess I could complain to that the Console players have it before me or that the US players can play all day and I only a few hours.

Instead I wish them happy gaming.

Have a nice day.

@holger1405

As if I don't wish others happy gaming because I want things to be fairer in my country?!

Good try, mate.

Peace. 

I can give a good reason to have the release time for Central Standard time mid morning....Because that is where Bioware is located or close to it, and thus that is where and when people will be on the job to handle launch issues for PC.  I imagine the consoles have certain rules they must follow and the Console companies(microsoft/sony) get to choose when games are unlocked as far as time frame goes, basically they tell Sony game releases this day, Sony says ok we will unlock it at this time per our system. 

Do I know this as the 100% truth, no, I work on cars for a living, but it is one very possible set of reasons for their actions that I can see.   Will this issue ever change, well yeah, it has already changed as you noted with digital releases limiting the delays for people to get games.  One thing to also consider is check your Government in Aussy as to what issues they throw up in releasing games.....

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@mcsupersport wrote:

I can give a good reason to have the release time for Central Standard time mid morning....Because that is where Bioware is located or close to it, and thus that is where and when people will be on the job to handle launch issues for PC.  I imagine the consoles have certain rules they must follow and the Console companies(microsoft/sony) get to choose when games are unlocked as far as time frame goes, basically they tell Sony game releases this day, Sony says ok we will unlock it at this time per our system. 

Do I know this as the 100% truth, no, I work on cars for a living, but it is one very possible set of reasons for their actions that I can see.   Will this issue ever change, well yeah, it has already changed as you noted with digital releases limiting the delays for people to get games.  One thing to also consider is check your Government in Aussy as to what issues they throw up in releasing games.....

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I always assumed this is the main reason for the timing of releases/updates/maintenance.

@holger1405 you make a very solid point but im going to make a very very weak argument to counter it :P

Back when launches were different days in different regions I was too young to really understand the internet and had limited access. I only ever knew about my local release date that retailers told me about.

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Now that internet usage has become more common and release information is released generally online first i'm more affected by it when it isnt clarified for different regions. It's like if your local shopping centre said you could get this limited time food you love on the 14th and then you get excited for it and they tell you oh we didnt clarify? we are a multi national company, we meant the timezone of our headquarters on the other side of the world, see you tomorrow :D It would suck right? It's such a minor inconvenience but back then you got told you would get the game 3 days later than other regions so you were ready for the correct day in your locality, now we get implied to get the game same day and then we actually get it at a different time. 

Also i should point out that a 1am unlock isnt gonna be played at 1am lmao, best believe ill be snoring till my normal wakeup time so its a whole other day than was advertised.

@harneyden I want to point out that while we are in the southern hemisphere the release date of ME isnt actually disrespectful to an entire hemisphere. The Timezones run vertically across the planet (east to west) while the hemispheres are just north and south. People in Western Australia who are 3 hours behind AEST will get it at 10pm on the 14th. As far as I know there are very few places that it will release on the 15th, namely New zealand, the east coast of australia, maybe some countries in the northern hemisphere too. 

@mcsupersport made a good point though about launch being when developers are in the office.

@GrimReaperTaken too true, I was hyperbolising for sure.

And I understand the points made by everyone else here.

It just feels a weak given its a single player game, if it was a multiplayer game with servers etc for the staff to monitor and maintain I respect that decision more.

I suppose they'll be watching for day 1 bugs etc or DRM issues given the spread of hardware variances, which is valid.

But also, with the physical release on consoles I'm sure there will be staff monitoring those releases all the same. 

Oh well the point is moot, the game comes out when it comes out.

I will play it on the morning of the 15th when I wake up, I cancelled my pre order and will purchase post release.

I will bear the loss of an annual leave day I scheduled for this release based on the information provided in Australian based advertising, I will still enjoy my day off, albeit a little deflated.

It just always feels like Australia gets the short end of the stick when it comes to gaming.

Also I don't mean to be rude and standoffish, and I'm sorry for being heated towards @holger1405 please accept my apologies.

Mass Effect is really special to me, I know it sounds lame, I'm just really keen to jump back into that universe and the delay upset me.

@mcsupersport 

You can be sure that you are right here. 😀

@GrimReaperTaken 

As said, Bioware and EA could for sure have done a better job in communicating the release times for the different regions, especially if the release time is in fact not at the 14th but at the 15th in parts of Australia and New Zeeland.

There is just no way around that imho. The reason for the release times set in this way were perfectly pointed out by @mcsupersport , and giving Australia a different release time, technically difficult, would introduce the problem that a lot of people from around the world would use VPN's to access the game earlier.
(Not to mention that it just would move the disadvantage somewhere else.)

@harneyden 

No hard feelings. 🙂 I understand why you are upset.