Mass Effect Legendary Edition won't include Pinnacle Station DLC

Mass Effect 3
(Image credit: BioWare)

Mass Effect Legendary Edition won't include the Pinnacle Station DLC from Mass Effect 1 for a very interesting reason, according to Game Informer

Mass Effect 1's Pinnacle Station DLC gave players a chance to work on their combat skills aboard an Alliance space station - and it only cost 400 Microsoft Points when it launched in 2009 (inflation be damned). It offered over a dozen combat scenarios and was much loved by players - but it won't be one of the 40-plus DLC packs included in Mass Effect Legendary Edition. The reason for its absence is somewhat surprising: the Pinnacle Station source code was lost years ago, resulting in PS3 players not having access to the DLC. That source code is still a problem in 2021, according to BioWare.

Trying to recover the source code from Demiurge Studios, the content's original developer, was "an emotional rollercoaster" according to game director Mac Walters. BioWare reached out through multiple channels in the hopes of finding anyone connected to the DLC, but when the dev team finally got in touch with Demiurge Studios they were let down again - the source code sent by Demiurge was almost entirely corrupted data that was missing crucial links. 

In order for players to enjoy Pinnacle Station in Mass Effect Legendary Edition, BioWare would have had to completely rebuild the DLC. Walters says, "It would basically take us another full six months just to do this with most of the team we've got. 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." 

I was already upset to learn that Mass Effect Legendary Edition won't contain the wildly fun Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, so this Pinnacle Station news is certainly another blow. However, BioWare has wanted to remake the trilogy for quite some time now, and rebuilding a chunk of DLC would only further delay the project, and at least we've got another 40 add-ons to keep us occupied.

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition will drop May 14 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.

Check out the most 10 most interesting improvements coming to the Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

Mass Effect romance | Mass Effect keepers | Mass Effect endings | Mass Effect 2 romance | Mass Effect 2 loyalty | Mass Effect 2 weapons | Mass Effect 2 endings | Mass Effect 3 romance | Mass Effect 3 weapons | Mass Effect 3 armor | Mass Effect 3 planet scanning | Mass Effect 3 endings

Alyssa Mercante

Alyssa Mercante is an editor and features writer at GamesRadar based out of Brooklyn, NY. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.

Latest in Mass Effect
Mass Effect 3
BioWare lead proves he's onto us while celebrating Mass Effect 3's birthday, clarifying that's all he's doing so that "nobody can say I purposefully teased them"
Mass Effect
"EA gives you enough rope to hang yourself": BioWare co-founder says working for a big game company just ain't it, even if "it was actually a pretty successful run" for Mass Effect
BioWare
Mass Effect 5 is "still in pre-production" says director as BioWare shifts full focus to the sci-fi RPG amid dev reshuffles and reported layoffs
Mass Effect 5
Mass Effect 5 is BioWare's only big project after Dragon Age: The Veilguard, studio veteran predicts, but "isn't ready to suddenly have a team of 250, 300 people"
Mass Effect 5 poster
As Dragon Age: The Veilguard director leaves and studio closure rumors surface, Mass Effect 5 director appears to hint the RPG is just fine: "Every week is a good week at work for me"
BioWare
BioWare fans reckon they've found evidence Mass Effect 5 is bringing back the RPG series' classic Renegade/Paragon morality
Latest in News
Atelier Ryza 3 protagonist closeup
JRPG producer says people prefer their anime girls to have thick thighs when the economy's in the tank, and he's not even joking a little bit
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor season 2
Andor season 2 showrunner talks the much-anticipated Star Wars moment that we haven't seen on screen before: "It's a very significant part of our show"
Skyrim
It took Skyrim players nearly 15 years to discover ingenious loot hack that completely changes the game and, uh, requires you to desecrate a couple corpses
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Indy hanging onto a vine as in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release date reportedly set for April after ESRB leak
Fallout
Fallout season 2’s dazzling and dystopian New Vegas is coming to life in a new leaked video
an ai chatbot plays a modded verion of pokemon red and jumps down a ledge to talk to an npc
An AI's mission to 'teach' itself Pokemon Red is going as well as you think - after escaping Cerulean City after tens of hours, it went right on back