Mass Effect Product Manager Interview

Mass Effect producer manager Nick Clifford took some time out of his day to tackle a handful of questions about his job responsibilities in the latest in-house Q&A to hit the BioWare Blog. As usual, I’ll get you started with a couple of questions and their answers:

What does an average day look like for you?

No two days are the same, that’s for sure! Currently we are hard at work on Mass Effect post launch campaign. As you know we are working on the Extended Cut single player DLC and ongoing multiplayer updates. As I mentioned, we want to make sure the community stays engaged, that’s why you seeing us playing multiplayer with you, running N7 Challenge Weekends, and talking to you on the forums.

Marketing involves a lot of communication and management. We work with a lot of teams and have to make sure that everything stays well oiled. This involves a lot of coordination and planning. Mornings are usually spent talking with everyone and making sure we are all on the same page. We are always planning for upcoming content launches and events and then coordinating with teams to execute on those plans. And personally I always make it a point to play a couple rounds of MP each day.

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Can you tell us about one of your proudest moments working in the gaming industry?

I jump every time I see one of our advertisements (I usually also get a call from mom). Seeing our vision realized is the most satisfying reward. Way back on Mass Effect 2 we aired our launch trailer during the NFC football championship game during the 2 minute warning. We couldn’t have asked for a better game, it was tied with two minutes left. They blew the whistle for the 2 minute warning, then cut to our trailer. It was glorious, no other advertisements were aired during that break, just ours. And it was such an emotional piece, I love that trailer. I was out with a big group of friends, and I didn’t tell any of them that the spot was airing, then it started, and the whole place went silent. It was awesome.