Mass Effect 3 - Marketing

Marketing

To promote Mass Effect 3, BioWare relied heavily on viral marketing. Using an internal channel called BioWare Pulse, weekly videos were posted on the company's official website and YouTube offering fans a preview of upcoming content. To keep in touch with fans during development, social networking websites such as Twitter were utilized by members of the game's production team including Casey Hudson and Mac Walters. On December 12, 2011, staff writer Patrick Weekes posted a blog as Commander Shepard writing from the Normandy and elaborating on some minor plot points. Official badges, 2D and 3D posters, stickers and temporary tattoos for the game will be produced by GB Eye and stocked by retailers such as Chips and HMV. A demo for the game was released on February 14, 2012. Early access to the demo was granted to consumers who purchased Battlefield 3 and activated their online pass.

Mass Effect 3 was released in multiple editions. Alongside the regular edition, there was also be a collector's edition and a digital deluxe edition, each of which will include bonus content and unlockable items; most notably, four exclusive weapons found in the N7 Arsenal Pack. The digital deluxe edition is exclusively available through Origin, EA's rebranded PC game store. All pre-orders of the game were accompanied with the M55 Argus Assault Rifle bonus weapon, with retailer-specific bonuses available as well. Anyone who pre-orders the game from GameStop will receive N7 warfare gear and anyone who pre-orders the game from Origin will receive an AT12 Raider Shotgun. As a part of a crossover promotion, players can also unlock two bonus items — the Reckoner Knight Armor and Chakram Launcher — by playing through the demo for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. To alleviate sales lost to the second-hand market and rentals, only unused copies of Mass Effect 3 will come with an online pass allowing players full access to the online multiplayer mode. Once the pass is activated, it cannot be used again; therefore, players who buy the game used are required to pay an additional fee in order to use multiplayer.

Unlike the first two games in the series, BioWare specifically included the female version of Commander Shepard in marketing Mass Effect 3. Often referred to colloquially as "FemShep", she was featured in her own dedicated trailer for the game, as well as a revised version of the "Take Back Earth" trailer. She also graced the cover of the Mass Effect 3 N7 Collector's Edition. In addition, the standard version of the game featured a reversible slipcase insert, allowing the purchaser to display either the male or female version of Shepard on the front and back cover artwork. To help decide the official female Shepard model, BioWare let fans choose between five prototypes on Facebook. Eventually, the fifth prototype won and a new fan vote was held to decide its hair color, which ended up being red.

In February 2012, EA sent early copies of Mass Effect 3 into space via weather balloons. The games were equipped with a GPS tracking device, allowing fans to track their progress. When the balloons landed, anyone who found one was able to snag a copy of Mass Effect 3 a week or more ahead of its release.