BioWare Addresses Mass Effect 3 ‘From Ashes’ DLC Controversy

All of the controversy over BioWare’s day-one Mass Effect 3 DLC, ‘From Ashes’, got quite a bit more heated over the weekend after a video surfaced claiming to prove that Javik, the new companion introduced in the DLC, was already available on the disc.

In the video, the user showed that Javik could easily be unlocked on PC copies of Mass Effect 3 by simply editing a file using a community-built tool, changing one line in the code, and booting up the game. It wasn’t clear from the video how much of Javik is already on-disc, but the video plainly shows that at least some character data is already available.

In response to the video after considerable backlash, EA released a statement to Game Informer, explaining that, yes, there is some ‘From Ashes’ DLC already on the disc–but not all of it.

“From Ashes is a 600 MB+ download with all new content, including the mission on Eden Prime, new dialogue options and conversations with Javik, new cinematics, the Prothean weapon, and new appearances for all squad members. All of the above content was completed while the main game was in certification and are not available on the disc.

“As stated previously, in order to seamlessly integrate Javik into the core campaign, certain framework elements and character models needed to be put on disc. We did something similar with Zaeed and Kasumi in Mass Effect 2.”

I can sympathize with the fans’ disappointment over Mass Effect 3‘s day-one DLC as I feel that Javik adds quite a bit to the overall experience, but I don’t have any reason to believe that EA or BioWare are fibbing in their statement.

If you’d like to see the video that prompted an official response from BioWare, you can check out the user video below.