How much time does it take to "market" a game?

unless the game is being announced and then released a week after its announced, I don't think there is a problem?

Yeah, based on how little we've seen, I fully expect to get at least one more delay.
Personally, I'm really worried about now that I've played Witcher 3. If Andromeda doesn't up its game from ME3, it's going to feel very shallow.
Mankind Divided managed to raise its game to still feel rich in a post Witcher 3 world, so it can be done. I hope Bioware are using this extra time to make sure it doesn't feel too shallow. (I also hope the space exploration doesn't mean it's just No Man's Sky: Bioware Edition.)

Id like to think it's a conscious attempt to just be a bit more secretive about the title. We've had games that are 1 year + away have tons of gameplay trailers and footage, so even if if a delay was coming they could still show it off.

I think we saw with Fallout 4 how impactful it can be to have one big reveal then launch a game 5months later, as opposed to a year of constant footage where some of the excitement wears off (FFXV). 

I'm pretty sure it's because there is no game called Mass Effect Andromeida

6 months could be enough become that's what happened to Fallout 4 and it turned out welk but at least Bethesda showed it on a big event likw E3 while mass effect has missed out on the big two gaming events so i also think it's odd that it's been over a year since we saw a trailer.

"thoughts?"

The development is not going that well and the game is going to be pushed back again to the end of 2017.

That's why they are really silent.

The game is far in development and they aren't saying much because they don't want to affect sales of Battlefield + Titanfall 2. Not that i think it makes alot of sense, but thats what i've heard from them. Once titanfall 2 is out and theres nothing on mass effect, then we can start to worry.

Zelda and Mass Effect have completely different appeal and only slight market overlap, so that is a non-issue. While Horizon might take attention for PS4 the majority player base is on PC and Xbox and they won't care about Horizon. And Mass Effect fans, like me, will choose ME over Horizon on PS4 anyway. I'll get to Horizon eventually, but Mass Effect is my priority.