Bioware were my favourite game studio for a very long time, they made many of my favourite games including my favourite of all time. But when I heard the statement from a Bioware employee (I think this was shortly before Dragon Age 2 came out) that they were designing the game deliberately to appeal to the Call of Duty crowd, I honestly lost all respect for them.
I'm not normally someone who gets annoyed if developers go in a new direction, I don't normally think in terms of the developers OWING something back to their fans, and I'm certainly not against developers changing and experimenting with what they do - but then I had never heard a developer say something so blatantly cynical and profit-driven before. Change and experimentation I'm all for, when it's for artistic reasons. But when you're known and loved for making story-driven, mostly single-player fantasy and sci-fi RPGs, and you state that you want to make your games more like a series that is primarily multi-player, not very concerned with story and not fantasy or sci-fi (unless you count the paranoid ravings of right-wing Americans whose TVs were broken the day the Berlin Wall was dismantled), that's obviously a pure marketing decision. It's sickeningly clear that they saw the crowds of people playing Modern Warfare and basically said "We want them. If we have to change the style of the game and alienate the fans we already have then do that. They're only fans, they only made us into one of the most successful game studios in the world, fuck them." So I lost all respect for them on the basis that they seemed to have lost all respect for me.
Now I'm aware that since absorbing the reaction to DA2 Bioware have said they're taking all the feedback on board and intend to release a DA3 that is closer to what their core fans like, while keeping the accessible elements that drew new fans. And if they manage to do that then I will be a very happy nerd and will gladly buy the game. But part of me is very doubtful that they will manage it. I honestly don't think you can please everyone, and when you make a game more accessible to people who might not have as much time or enthusiasm for the more complex RPG elements, you necessarily take away some of the freedom and enjoyment for hardcore RPG fans like me.
So as of now, I'm cautiously optimistic about the future of Bioware. And I'm wondering how you other Escapists feel.
I should probably state at this point that I haven't played Dragon Age 2, and my fan-rage reactions was based purely on the Bioware guy's statement and on the concept of making a fantasy RPG more like Call of Duty to appeal to a new market. Who knows, maybe I'd like DA2
I'm not normally someone who gets annoyed if developers go in a new direction, I don't normally think in terms of the developers OWING something back to their fans, and I'm certainly not against developers changing and experimenting with what they do - but then I had never heard a developer say something so blatantly cynical and profit-driven before. Change and experimentation I'm all for, when it's for artistic reasons. But when you're known and loved for making story-driven, mostly single-player fantasy and sci-fi RPGs, and you state that you want to make your games more like a series that is primarily multi-player, not very concerned with story and not fantasy or sci-fi (unless you count the paranoid ravings of right-wing Americans whose TVs were broken the day the Berlin Wall was dismantled), that's obviously a pure marketing decision. It's sickeningly clear that they saw the crowds of people playing Modern Warfare and basically said "We want them. If we have to change the style of the game and alienate the fans we already have then do that. They're only fans, they only made us into one of the most successful game studios in the world, fuck them." So I lost all respect for them on the basis that they seemed to have lost all respect for me.
Now I'm aware that since absorbing the reaction to DA2 Bioware have said they're taking all the feedback on board and intend to release a DA3 that is closer to what their core fans like, while keeping the accessible elements that drew new fans. And if they manage to do that then I will be a very happy nerd and will gladly buy the game. But part of me is very doubtful that they will manage it. I honestly don't think you can please everyone, and when you make a game more accessible to people who might not have as much time or enthusiasm for the more complex RPG elements, you necessarily take away some of the freedom and enjoyment for hardcore RPG fans like me.
So as of now, I'm cautiously optimistic about the future of Bioware. And I'm wondering how you other Escapists feel.
I should probably state at this point that I haven't played Dragon Age 2, and my fan-rage reactions was based purely on the Bioware guy's statement and on the concept of making a fantasy RPG more like Call of Duty to appeal to a new market. Who knows, maybe I'd like DA2