Update 3: Trump’s tweet is currently also being withheld in response to a copyright claim from EA.
Update 2: EA has issued a statement to GameInformer declaring that the company did not approve of the video and that it objects to the use of its assets in political campaigns.
“The video was an unauthorized use of our IP,” a company representative commented. “We do not support our assets being used in political campaigns.”
Update 1: While you can still watch the video in Drumpf’s tweet, it has been pulled on YouTube due to a copyright claim by Mass Effect 2 publisher EA.
Original Story: Earlier today, US presidential candidate Donald Drumpf tweeted a supporter’s campaign video to his 7.44 million Twitter followers which contained music and dialogue taken from BioWare’s 2010 RPG Mass Effect 2.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldDrumpf/status/717003103871115267
And below is Mass Effect 2’s launch trailer for comparison.
The dialogue used is that of Martin Sheen’s character Jack Harper, aka The Illusive Man.
The Illusive Man was the leader of the human supremacist organisation Cerberus which resurrects the series’ protagonist Commander Shepard at the start of the game to investigate the disappearance of entire human colonies. These investigations ultimately result in the discovery of the Collectors, thralls of the franchise’s main enemies, the Reapers.
In Mass Effect 3, it emerges that The Illusive Man has been indoctrinated by the Reapers and players must deal with him before deciding the fate of the galaxy.
It’s not immediately clear if the video is a well-meaning attempt to support the Republican frontrunner or a massive troll but some of the quotes contained within would seem to suggest it’s the latter.
One BioWare developer, Manveer Heir, expressed his disdain for the use of Mass Effect 2 dialogue and music in the video on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/manveerheir/status/717012335169241089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The video seems to imply that Hillary Clinton is a Reaper or some kind of Reaper dog. It’s all hilariously bad whatever the intention.
BioWare is currently developing Mass Effect Andromeda which will see an all-new protagonist called Ryder or the Pathfinder lead a colonisation effort in the Andromeda according to recently leaked marketing surveys and gameplay footage.
Hopefully, we’ll know more about the game after E3 in June.
