Release Date clarification

[GrimReaperTaken]

Annnnd im back again with another question. my tentative googlings tell me the game comes on the 14th which is 3 days away for me. 

I have been burnt before by games saying they come out on the '14th of may' and then it turns out that it is literally a '14th of may local time in america' thing and it's actually a longer wait for the rest of the world, being in australia it's pretty disappointing to see a release date and find out that I actually have to wait till the next day because of timezones. 

So in short, is MELE coming out 14th globally or is it 14th in a specific time zone? 

I'd like to figure out when it comes for me in AEST so i dont expect to wake up friday morning with the game downloading on my xbox and it says 'lol jokes, cya saturday'

[EA_Mako · Accepted solution]

Hey @GrimReaperTaken,

The official release time on our store page is May 14, 2021 at 10:00 AM CDT. That looks like it converts to May 15, 1:00 AM AEST if my google-fu is correct, so I wouldn't plan on that being available sooner, I'm afraid.

Edit: This is for PC, but if we get any additional clarification for specific console platforms or otherwise, I'll update here if possible.

Edit 2: Full breakdown is available here

[EA_Mako · Accepted solution]

Hey @GrimReaperTaken,

The official release time on our store page is May 14, 2021 at 10:00 AM CDT. That looks like it converts to May 15, 1:00 AM AEST if my google-fu is correct, so I wouldn't plan on that being available sooner, I'm afraid.

Edit: This is for PC, but if we get any additional clarification for specific console platforms or otherwise, I'll update here if possible.

Edit 2: Full breakdown is available here

[GrimReaperTaken]

That's a shame, was afraid to get my hopes up for the 14th, thanks for the info though :D

[TacoMcgee97]

Why is the release date on PC at 11 a.m. EDT, but for consoles is midnight in your time zone? I apologize if any of my info is wrong but that's what I've read thus far.

[EA_Mako]

@TacoMcgee97 I'm hearing we should have more information on the release timing soon, but nothing to share just yet.

[TacoMcgee97]

Okay, Thanks for the answer bud

[harneyden]

I don't understand this, why release at 1am AEST on the 15th for PC when I could literally walk into JB HiFi at 9am AEST on the 14th and buy a physical copy for XBOX or PS4.

I took the day off work for this FFS!!!

I wish this was clarified sooner because now I've just wasted an Annual leave day, I'm so sick of being screwed over, its a dang digital version it should make no difference when its released if the physicals are available at 9am AEST on the 14th.

False advertising imo, its been advertised as 14th in Australia for months, and only now days out from launch EA are like "whoops sorry bro, we don't give a rats about you plebs in the southern hemisphere, we really only car about our peeps in north America".

I had thought EA was getting better but this launch tells me otherwise.

I would say I'm shocked but I guess this is just par for the course for EA.

[GrimReaperTaken]

Yeah not gonna lie I was worried about it for a few months. I'm aware of americans doing this a lot so I always try to check. Unfortunately mass effect had one of the worst release date announcements that I have kept track of (i obviously dont follow every product ever). Most of the time they at least confirm the timezone when they say the date so I can figure out myself when it launches. Mass Effect sadly never said anything other than the date which was honestly kind of misleading, this whole time I was planning my friday off so I could play mass effect for 3 days and instead i have to wait til saturday now and only get 2 days. 

I get that they dont want australians uploading gameplay to youtube 12 hours before americans but it's also super SUPER annoying when americans get a game on friday leading into the weekend and we get it for just the 2 days of the weekend before going off to work again on monday. 

@EA_Mako If your information on the 'release timing' is just going to be timezones then i strongly advise you to keep it to yourself. Bioware/EA is sadly months too late to be announcing time zones now, anyone who has annual leave like poor @harneyden is already too late to cancel it, you'll just annoy people even more by putting that info out so late. 

If your info is actually a change of date and its the same time world wide now so aussies get to pick it up on friday then absolutely tell us so we can enjoy our 3 day weekend. 

[holger1405]

@harneyden 

About 10 years ago games where released on different days in the US and in Europe, as in 3 days apart. 

No we have a simultaneous launce at the same day and time (May 14, 2021 at 10:00 AM CDT) for everyone, it just happen that for me that is 5:00 PM and for you 1:00 AM on the 15th.

(I know, time zones suck. 😉)

This is also not new nor is it limited to EA, all big developers do it in the same or in a similar way.

@GrimReaperTaken 

Correct info is correct info, no matter if you like it or not.

[harneyden]

Cheers @GrimReaperTaken

Very poorly managed from EA, disappointing to say the least.

I have calmed down a bit since I wrote my reply, I'm just worked up because the ME trilogy is super important to me, I loved it since day dot, ME3 came out while I was battling cancer and was a great comfort in those times, I especially connected with Thane's story.

I will survive 1 day, I'll find something else to do on friday. Just wish we had been told sooner.