Mass Effect 2 - Release and Downloadable Content

Release and Downloadable Content

See also: List of Mass Effect 2 downloadable content

Mass Effect 2 was initially released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on January 26, 2010 in North America and January 29, 2010 in Europe. The game was released in multiple editions. Alongside the standard edition, a digital deluxe edition and a collector's edition were also made available for purchase. The collector's edition featured a different packaging, an artbook, bonus in-game content, behind-the-scenes DVD, and one issue from the Mass Effect: Redemption comic series. If the game was pre-ordered at certain retailers, players could receive special items such as in-game armors and weapons. Players could also redeem codes on specially marked Dr Pepper products for one of three pieces of headgear, and on registered copies of Dragon Age: Origins for a new armor.

Mass Effect 2 also supports additional downloadable content packs that were released from January 2010 to May 2011. The downloadable content ranges from single in-game character outfits to entirely new plot-related missions. Major packs include Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival, which are vital to the series' plot. In Lair of the Shadow Broker, Shepard helps former squad member Liara T'Soni to find an information dealer known as the Shadow Broker. In Arrival, Shepard investigates evidence of a Reaper invasion, leading to events that bridge to Mass Effect 3. Other plot-related downloadable content packs include the loyalty missions Zaeed - The Price of Revenge and Kasumi - Stolen Memory, and Overlord, which adds five new missions to the game.

The PlayStation 3 version was released on January 18, 2011 in North America and January 21, 2011 in Europe. Unlike the Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 versions, the PlayStation 3 version includes the Kasumi - Stolen Memory, Overlord, and Lair of the Shadow Broker packs. Since the first Mass Effect game was originally not released on PlayStation 3, BioWare also released a new downloadable content, titled Mass Effect: Genesis, which allows players to impact the story of the game with several major plot decisions of the first game. These decisions are made through an interactive comic book which appears at the beginning of the game. Mass Effect: Genesis was eventually released on May 17, 2011 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 users. In 2012, a compilation featuring the three main games of the series, titled Mass Effect Trilogy, was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

New purchases of the game are provided with a one-time use card granting access code that unlocks the game's Cerberus Network, an online downloadable content and news service that enables bonus content for the game. However, users who bought the game used would have to pay for the Cerberus Network separately if they wanted access to the new content. This policy allows publishers to combat the used-game market; companies like GameStop have allowed costumers to sell used games back to the retailer so that the company can resell them at a small discount to other customers, but the publisher does not make a profit. BioWare online development director Fernando Melo revealed that 11% of all Mass Effect 2's downloadable content revenue came from the Cerberus Network. The policy attracted criticism from some of the fan community, who have criticized downloadable content as being overpriced and an incentive for developers to leave items out of the initial release.