BioWare had to leave out Mass Effect 1 DLC from Legendary Edition due to corrupted data
Mass Effect Legendary Edition appears to be a lavish package that lovingly restores much of the spirit and content of BioWare’s beloved trilogy – except for one single-player DLC that’s missing.
Pinnacle Station, an add-on that brought a small hub and combat simulator to Mass Effect 1, isn’t included.
If you’re familiar with the saga of this DLC’s inclusion in other versions of the game, you may know what’s coming – but, if not, BioWare has now confirmed why.
Pinnacle Station was skipped over when the original Mass Effect belatedly launched on PlayStation 3, some five years after it originally arrived on Xbox 360.
At the time, BioWare admitted its source code had become corrupted and it could no longer be worked upon. Now, and despite fresh efforts from BioWare to resurrect the add-on, this is sadly still the case.
Speaking to Game Informer, Legendary Edition project director Mac Walters said trying to get Pinnacle Station remastered had been “an emotional roller coaster,” after contact was made with its original external developer.
Unlike most Mass Effect DLC, Pinnacle Station was built by a different company: Demiurge Studios, a small Massachusetts outfit still around 14 years later.
BioWare managed to contact Demiurge to retrieve copies of the original Pinnacle Station files – which Demiurge was able to source – but these were then found to be corrupt as well. Re-creating the add-on from scratch was also out of the question.
“It would basically take us another full six months just to do this with most of the team we’ve got,” Walters told Game Informer. “I wish we could do it. Honestly, just because this is meant to be everything that the team ever created, brought together again – all the single-player content. And so, leaving it all on the cutting-room floor, it was heartbreaking.”
For more on Mass Effect Legendary Edition, including the Legendary Cache and our questions to Walters about returning to the franchise many feared might not continue, you’ll want to read our coverage of everything which is included in the package.