Alright, so they [messed] up on Dragon Age 2. But now people are starting to blow this failure way out of proportion, going as far as to insult games like Mass Effect, KotOR and Baldur’s Gate.
Why is that?
The latest game in BioWare’s fantasy role-playing series went through ten years of development turmoil
In early November, on the eve of the crucial holiday shopping season, staffers at the video-game studio BioWare were feeling optimistic. After an excruciating development cycle, they had finally released their latest game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and the early reception was largely positive. The role-playing game was topping sales charts on Steam, and solid, if not spectacular, reviews were rolling in.
Its easy they called the die hard fans people in their nerd caves who will buy anything and then went woke to reach modern audiences....insulting the nerds in their caves along the way showing utter contempt for their fan base. very hapy it failed and any company who insults their fan base and treat their customers with contempt and insults, in future, i also hope fail.
It’s disappointing but not surprising to see what's happening with Dragon Age: The Veilguard and the broader situation at BioWare. The layoffs are tragic — no one wants to see talented developers lose their jobs. But when studios repeatedly create games that alienate their own fanbase, outcomes like this become unfortunately predictable.
There’s a pattern we’re seeing far too often: beloved franchises are revived, only to be reshaped into something almost unrecognizable. Changes are made that no one asked for, often at the expense of what originally made these games special. Then, when long-time fans express concern or lose interest, they’re told, “This game might not be for you.” But when those same fans heed that advice and don’t buy the game, suddenly they're labeled as toxic, sexist, bigoted, or worse.
Let’s be clear: the overwhelming majority of gamers have no issue with diversity, LGBTQ+ representation, or strong female leads. In fact, some of the most iconic characters in gaming — like Aloy, Ellie, or FemShep — are proof that inclusivity and excellent storytelling can and do go hand in hand. The issue arises when diversity feels performative, forced, or disconnected from the narrative — when characters or themes are inserted not to serve the story, but to satisfy a corporate DEI checklist. Audiences can tell the difference.
When studios chase approval from a vocal minority that often doesn’t even buy games — while simultaneously dismissing loyal fans who actually do — they risk not just the success of individual titles, but the health of their entire studio. Telling your core customers “don’t buy it if you don’t like it” is not a viable business strategy. Because guess what? Many of us won’t. And when the game fails commercially, blaming those very fans for not supporting it is both unfair and self-defeating.
Gamers aren’t asking for less diversity or less progress. We’re asking for better writing, thoughtful character development, and a respect for the franchises we’ve supported for decades. When you give people great games that speak to them — whether they’re old fans or new players — they will show up. But if you keep making games for people who don’t play them, don’t be surprised when those who do stop showing up
I thought the writing and character development were fine. Sometimes things just dont resonate with people.
BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk reveals his unrealized dream of transforming EA from within, with hopes pinned on SWTOR’s success.
for us gamers
Dragon Age 4: A Dream Unrealized
SWTOR was a great game on a bad engine.
Agreed, SWTOR still has some of the best dialogue from any Star Wars work. I think we all miss this old Bioware the most.
Former BioWare executive Mark Darrah says "be a human being, have some empathy."
Fans don't know who is actually to blame.
Darrah throws up a hypothetical that someone might not like how an actor delivered a line. Sure, it could well be down to the actor, but it also might be down to who was directing them, how the writer asked their work to be delivered, or maybe that was the only take they got.
This line from the video though
"Maybe the CEO of the entire company really wanted his nephew to be hired as a script consultant and this guy with literally zero experience was coming in and pushing for mandatory changes"
Like others have said that seems far too specific to just be an example...
Exactly. And the crazy part about this is that the people there just doing their job and trying to make a living are the one's getting hurt and losing their jobs. I am also not a fan of targeting specific individuals. Its poor form. These are video games.
If only there was a single problem with this game, it was a train wreck waiting to crash and burn.
As usual, common sense falls on deaf ears. I mean, he thinks this article is about Dragon Age Veilguard. He rejects logic and evidence.
What possible logic or evidence can you provide to convince him otherwise.
@Thorstein
Cant expect people to see reason now a days.
@Notellin
Sure. Go ahead and bury yourselves beneath your own ignorance.
Then don't use it for the thumbnail. It's misleading on purpose to draw this reaction.
Personally, i think we should always blame and criticize the management (especially top management; like with EA - every screw up should be blamed on Andrew Wilson and his goons). They're the ones with the power, the ones who have the last say in the matter - whatever is the plot details, gameplay, microtransactions, budget and «It's ok that it's buggy and crashes constantly, release the game ASAP, we'll fix it later».
Harrasement is not ok in my book, although, nowadays, many people paint every type of criticism (whatever warranted or not) as harrasement. Which is a very narrowminded and waters down actual harrasement problems. But, i guess, it makes it easier to ignore everything bad you see aimed towards yourself.
I would also like to add, that this topic is a double-edged sword, some developers are being mean to their customers, calling them names or any sort of -isms, that happens. In that case, don't be surprised, that, when you're «firing shots», customers are «shooting back» at you.
No you don't. Everything is criticized by somebody these days. By that logic everything is bad. Thats just more fuel for the echo chamber. The way you get games you want is by supporting the types of games you want by buying them. You want more games like Astrobot? Buy Astrobot. Recommend it to others. Its not about bashing what you don't like. its about supporting what you do like. Money talks.
Absolutely, I buy my games cause subscriptions are also part of the problem. I don't criticize myself personally, but by observing criticism by others, I avoid purchasing games with problems.
No we don't. FIFA and Madden get criticized every year and the games get worse and more overpriced.
Lack of profit is the only way to do it, but people are fine buying shit games every day, just not the shit games we talk about regularly here. We distract ourselves with this stupid 'social mirage' issue and the corporations get to keep doing less and less but selling it for more and more.
Says the only guy in the world that likes vanguard, I bet you like avowed aswell huh
Empathy always has value when dealing with other human beings. This includes empathy towards the fans who feel scorned and the devs who worked their asses off.
Because when Bioware brought out ME it was amazing...it was something which was unique and differen't. Sure it was a third person shooter but it didn't take the same path as other games like finding ammo for guns and going in guns blazing. They made it was you had crappy weapons (set weapons if you were a differen't class other then the soldier) which took a little while to cool down, while you could cool down they made it so you would use your chosen team mates, in the first ME they were important to you, and it also made you use your biotics if you had any.
However Bioware, starting with DA2 are making games which are accessible to a new casual crowd when they shouldn't be since it ruined a game like DA2, they should be focusing on the loyal audience they've gained since the first ME.
Even though ME2 was an amazing game they made it seem like any other third person shooter. They removed the RPG elenets that made the first ME so great, they got rid of the cool down weapons and added thermal clips (which messes around with the games universe take on thermal weapons...which dosen't make any sense), plus not giving you a choice which weapons to use even though the games about choices and they've also made it so you can go in guns blazing what ever class you've picked where you don't need to rely on your team mates or who you've chosen and don't really need to rely on your biotics which overall make it seem like any other third person shooter.
Now you have ME3 which have added melee combat, grenades, still hasn't given you a choice on what weapons you want to choose from and it dosen't look like theres that many RPG elements even though they've said there will be. Although I'm not saying it won't be amazing game just that Bioware have seemed to have forgotten at what they were by saying something like "RPG's are becoming less relevant" when that genre was their main focus.
The hate is only there because recently it's not what Bioware used to be like. It would be the same if a company like Bethesda started to focus more on action and stop making the Elder Scrolls so much like an RPG......the game would still be good quality but it's not what people would remember them as, people would hate it on and for good cause.
I'm sure there are some legitimate reasons why Bioware is getting some flak these days. Dragon Age 2 springs to mind, other might have other issues.
But I think one part of it is that when you reach a certain popularity and following there will be a backlash among some groups. It's the old sell out argument. But also people feel some kind of entitlement to what these games should be, since they were part of making them a success by buying them...
lol, when i first read the title i thought it said "hats" not hate & i was masively confused!
why on N4G is starting to look like random forum posts of some haters/fanboys
This is a very weak article, bordering on (in my opinion) pr damage control.
Like I've mentioned before, more so on my old account, Bioware of old is gone, replaced with Bioware of new (read: Bioware wants to be a publisher). They don't make their games based on imaginative ideas, but on what sells, and this can be clearly seen by them continuously mentioning that they are crafting their games for their fans. While in truth, all they are doing is going by collected data (ie how many people finished DA, what options they used, what romances they pursued...so on and so on) and making games based on that. Why do you think ME3 is less a RPG and more a shooter?
The hate is well deserved.