It has started today and this boycott is one of the most reasonable boycotts in gaming history. Totalbiscuit, the British fellow that does those "WTF is ..." videos all over Youtube, take a look at his channel if you don't know who I am referring to, has unleashed a new video today explaining how Bioware has gone too far with day 1 DLC for Mass Effect 3. It is the most sound reasoning I've ever heard for boycotting a game and it is also infuriating. Bioware announced today that, which you can see over at VG24/7, that there will be a day one DLC for Mass Effect 3, that's not big news right? They've been doing that for nearly every game since  the first Dragon Age, but they were often free or merely cosmetic, not this time though. The DLC in question brings a new crew member to the game, much like the one from Mass Effect 2, except this crew member is significant day one DLC that isn't free. Unlike Zaesz in Mass Effect 2 this new character is Prothean, a god damn Prothean! They could not have picked a race that would be more important to the storyline and lore of Mass Effect and this character is going to cost $10, on release day, for anyone that doesn't own the hefty $70-$80 Digital Deluxe Edition or N7 Collectors Edition. So if you get the normal game, which is still $60, you will have to pay another $10 to get this important and substantial DLC. This is absolutely crap. Bioware, more likely EA, has decided to stoop this low with their DLC and are pushing gamers to the limit. With most of their previous games, this isn't the first time they've done this kind of thing, all day one DLC that cost anything was purely cosmetic and never affected the actual game or story, but this seems important enough that if you don't shell out an extra $10 on top of $60 then you are missing out on a chunk of gameplay. Read on for more.

It's not so much about whether or not Bioware made the DLC instead of working on the game, it's about them releasing a day one DLC that costs $10, a sixth of games price, and doesn't add anywhere nearly a sixth of a new content. Furthermore they say this DLC is for "long time fans", as long time fans we should be met with discounts for owning the previous two games, not being slapped in the face with a overly priced day one DLC that makes people want to yell in anger. We don't get a thank you for playing all of our games, here is this small but substantial new DLC for our longtime fans, no we get more demands for money. We cannot not let this continue.

This kind of practice is unethical and as gamers we need to change this. Battlefield 3 has a similar boycott and it successfully got EA/DICE to change their day one DLC, so let's do the same people. If Bioware wants to make DLC after the game is released and sell it that is totally fine, but to make it before the game comes out, which means it should be part of the initial product, or free, is just a sign of how EA wants to get all the money they can out of us. Total Halibut makes a far better argument than I do, for the most part, and it is one that I insist anyone who is thinking about buying Mass Effect 3, or any EA game in general, should listen to. If we let them get away with this intolerable practice then it will set up a precedent for them to do it on any future EA game. Also, don't pirate the game, if you are going to support this boycott it, not pirate. Pirating the game will just support all the unintelligible anti-piracy tactics out there and then they can blame loss of sales on piracy, not because of their cruel day one DLC. I like many of you who would read something like this greatly enjoy the Mass Effect series, so boycotting this game is not easy, especially since it's the last game in the series, but it's a worthy cause. At the very least, wait until the game is on sale and no longer creating a gaping hole in your wallet. Watch the video and I hope you care.





Source: http://www.vg247.com/2012/02/21/mass-effect-3-from-ashes-dlc-spotted-on-xbox-live/
Bioware Announcement: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/9403705/1


To Discuss more head on over to Reddit, which is exploding with comments: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/q14v7/totalbiscuitwhy_i_think_bioware_ea_has_gone_too/

*Update 2/27/12
It seems this Boycott has failed entirely, at least so far, Bioware/EA are reporting that they are having record breaking pre-orders for ME3. Thanks for the support with this everyone. I will hold out hope that we will have some impact on them, but so far the boycott seems to have had no effect on Bioware/EA or the gaming community. 

-Written by Sean Cargle