Mass Effect 3 is OK, Says the UK

After the rallying cries of more than a few disgruntled fans to see EA punished for the ending of Mass Effect 3, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK has determined that consumers were not, in fact, misled by the advertisers.

Within less than a month of Mass Effect 3's March release, the ending became the subject of more than a few complaints. Some fans, in fact, took the rather extreme approach of filing a complaint with the FTC, saying that the supposedly poorly executed ending was false advertising.

Despite BioWare insisting that the ending would be expanded upon in the upcoming Extended Cut DLC, the ASA still dealt with the problem, and did so in EA's favor. The following spoiler-free comment supports their reasoning:

"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 realize 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."

So that's that. While the US's advertising regulators haven't gotten issued their opinion yet, the reasoning seems pretty likely to stick. Anyone who isn't happy is free to wait for the Extended Cut, however, to see if that alleviates some of their disappointment.

Frankly speaking, though, I don't think the plot choices were really what lead most people to this.

The Extended Cut DLC is due some time this summer, though rumor has it that it may be sooner than later.