If you’re gaming on one of the big home consoles from Microsoft or Sony you can sign up and become eligible to play the multiplayer preview for EA and BioWare’s upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda. The game won’t sport a multiplayer preview for PC gamers, though.
According to PCGamesN, the beta will be made available for just Xbox One and PS4 players. According to Mass Effect: Andromeda producer, Fernando Melo, the reason the beta isn’t available for PC is because the home consoles require more work and they must get the console versions certified earlier than PC to avoid the game shipping with tons of game-breaking bugs.
@aumkar_p All to do with how much earlier we must submit final game on those platforms. But if concerned, def recommend waiting for reviews.
— Fernando Melo (@DiscoBabaloo) November 7, 2016
Of course, there were plenty of follow-up questions from gamers asking if at least PC gamers would get a shot at a beta at some point before release in the spring, but there was nothing from BioWare about that.
Details about the multiplayer in Mass Effect: Andromeda weren’t released, but they’ve been really pushing for gamers to joint the Andromeda Initiative and register for the beta over on the BioWare Beacon website.
It’s interesting because there’s been a lot of anti-BioWare sentiment popping up in gaming communities lately, and plenty of indecisiveness in the comment sections of the YouTube trailers. If I didn’t know any better I would say that Ea and BioWare have a toughy on their hands when it comes to Mass Effect: Andromeda and so far nothing they’ve showcased has really wowed the gaming audience, mostly because a lot of it is quite standard fare.
Even still, they have up until spring of 2017 to right the boat and give gamers a reason to be excited, because right now that doesn’t seem to be happening the way it did when Mass Effect 3 was ready to release. Then again, there weren’t comments from BioWare employees like Manveer Heir making openly racist remarks on social media at the time.