Game News EA: We Lost Some Fans With Dragon Age 2

[Carlos' Bitch1]

I, for one, am never downloading anything Bioware ever again.

Repaired for Thirdworldian audiences.

 

[Mastermind]

In fact, we brought a lot of new fans into the Dragon Age franchise.

Yeah, these ones:

 

[FaChoi]

Used to be a time when they occasionally spoke their mind in interviews or press statements. These days its all just spin, spin and more spin. I absolutely loathe it.

There arn't any journalists left to ask the right questions.

The problem is, more and more journalists and college graduates are forgoing the trenches to pursue a different career path. Instead of reporting the news, they’re working to help manipulate it as public relations specialists. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in fact, in 1980 there were .45 PR people and .36 journalists per every 100,000 workers. As of 2008, that number had shifted radically. There are now .90 PR people per 100,000 workers and just .25 journalists. As Columbia Journalism Review reports in its May-June 2011 issue, that’s a ratio of more than three-to-one, better equipped and better financed to influence what the public sees and hears.

You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not Lie, then you will join the unemployed.

http://www.utne.com/Media/Public-Relati ... -News.aspx

 

[Sulimo]

If I extrapolate from the level Dutch Journalism studies are taught at, I fear for the future. Seriously, it's high-school level bullcrap with virtually no useful lessons for asking the right questions. But hey, you get Anthropology as a subject, so at least you won't diss sandniggers for acting retarded, because that's just the way they are.

I hope other countries are different in that regard, but damn, Dutch journalism is a joke.

 

[Angthoron]

Hah, oh wow, nice stuff, Redgar. When I made a terrible mistake of buying a copy of DA:O the first thing I felt indicating the game would be shit was the wave combat. Now they want to do what, add a counter to the waves? Awesome. The idiot even asks what is wrong with wave-based combat.


Also, yep, it's pretty much fans' fault for not liking their new shit. What did you expect?

 

[Brotherman Bill]

"We were clearly disappointed with some of the response from the fanbase"

Haha, oh, wow. Way to shift the blame there, EA. IT'S THEIR FAULT THEY DIDN'T LIKE IT. They simply made an awesome game, and several long-time bioware fanboys didn't like it. Clearly it's their fault.

Well, to be fair to them: If they really *were* to make an awesome game, with a deep combat system full of significant choices and meaningful character building, as well as punishing C&C and a story whose characters had complex motivations, their fanbase probably wouldn't like it, and it *would* be their own fault.

Not saying this is the case here though.

 

[Lemunde]

So it's official. EA's been developing the Dragon Age series, not Bioware.

 

[racofer]

I, for one, am never buying anything Bioware ever again.

Not even mass effect 3?

Why would I buy ME3 if I haven't bought any of the previous titles?

You bought DAII?

PLUEAHSE!!!

 

[CraigCWB]

We were clearly disappointed with some of the response from the fanbase, because we want them to be as excited about it as we are," EA Games Label boss Frank Gibeau told Eurogamer.


You see the way he put that? EA was disappointed with the fans. It wasn't the fans who were disappointed with EA.

We're very proud of the game. We tried to innovate and do some different things with the combat system and some of the way we told story.

You see the way he put that? They didn't dumb it down and make it retard-proof. They innovated. And really, who besides an asshole could ever object to innovation? Right?

For some fans it worked well. In fact, we brought a lot of new fans into the Dragon Age franchise.

So, basically, the people who liked Dragon Age II are not the people who liked Dragon Age I. I'd even venture a guess they aren't even fans of roleplaying games at all. But that's fine. Not everyone can appreciate the level of INNOVATION it takes to come out with an RPG that people who don't even like RPGs will enjoy. And those pesky fans, who do like RPGs?

Well...

"But to be honest, we lost some fans as well. They were not pleased with some of the innovations and things we'd done.

See how he makes sure to use the term "innovation" again? Dragon Age II is newer and better. What kind of people don't like newer and better?

We understand that and we're listening."

Translation: Fuck you, RPG fans! You were supposed to buy our piece of shit game no matter how much it sucked. Why? Because we INNOVATED, damn it! And not just the innovation thing, but we did other stuff too!

EA will take on fan feedback for Dragon Age 3, Gibeau promised.

I don't think they will. Certainly not based on this defensive statement. I don't think Bioware has crossed enough red lines yet to get the message. Dragon Age was supposed to be Bioware returning to its roots. That's what Bioware claimed. Regardless of whetehr one gives them credit for a good faith effort at that, the direction they went with DA2 makes it pretty obvious they made a conscious decision to run as far away from their roots as they possibly could. When the last die-hard old time Bioware fan gives up on them and all the "new fans" decide that Bioware interactive movies aren't really as good as the flavor of the month action titles they generally prefer, EA will shut down the Bioware brand as they've done with so many studio acquisitions in the past.

And this is one former Bioware fan who thinks that's exactly the fate Bioware deserves. T

 

[felipepepe]

Reminds me of "EA will take on fan feedback for Mass Effect 3, I promise" statement when people complained they removed armour and raped any weapons choice or deep RPG element. I've seen ME3 gameplay, and still no armors...and now Ashley is a fucking anime.

Maybe their solution is to make DA3 so far from DA1 that the old fans won't even bother anymore.

 

[Regdar]

Reminds me of "EA will take on fan feedback for Mass Effect 3, I promise" statement when people complained they removed armour and raped any weapons choice or deep RPG element. I've seen ME3 gameplay, and still no armors...and now Ashley is a fucking anime

The only thing anyone really wants from ME3 is a romanceable Tali'Zorah. Bioware delivers.

 

[felipepepe]

Reminds me of "EA will take on fan feedback for Mass Effect 3, I promise" statement when people complained they removed armour and raped any weapons choice or deep RPG element. I've seen ME3 gameplay, and still no armors...and now Ashley is a fucking anime

The only thing anyone really wants from ME3 is a romanceable Tali'Zorah. Bioware delivers.

Already done in ME2.

But, you're right anyway, ME2 positive feedbacks were from fangirls romancing Garrus and guys banging Miranda's ass. Bioware really know its (new) player base.

 

[baronjohn]

Bioshit lost me with Jade Empire. By the time Dragon Age came around there was no hope in hell it would be anything but a clusterfuck of embarrassing ineptitude.

 

[Drakron]

Did we ever get undisputed sales figures?

Entirely? No since PC sales are not tracked.

Console sales are tracked in NA, UK and Japan with numbers being tracked by a 3rd party and right now the numbers are:

Dragon Age: Origins - 3.33 million
Dragon Age 2: - 1.10 million

Sure I am using VGChartz but at this stage they are using the tracked numbers, I am not including the PC sales are they are not tracked, even if they are likely extrapolated from press releases and from Top 10 sales charts.

 

[Jaesun]

VGChartz magical made-up numbers mean absolutely nothing. Just FYI.

 

[Mastermind]

VGChartz magical made-up numbers mean absolutely nothing. Just FYI.

Just like your posts.

 

[Kitako]

For DA3 they'll do like some racing games: reverse track.
Instead of copypasting a corridor that brings you from A to B, you'll also have the option to do from B to A.

Interiors double and CHOICE!

 

[commie]

VGChartz magical made-up numbers mean absolutely nothing. Just FYI.

Well here's some non-specific numbers from EA's 4th Quarterly 2011 shareholder report:

EA shipped seven titles in the fourth quarter that have already sold in over 1 million units each, life to date. Crysis® 2, Dragon Age™ 2, and Dead Space™ 2 each sold in more than two million units.

http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=574530

This is up until the beginning of May. EA was crowing that it sold over a million DA2 copies in less than two weeks, and according to this then managed much less than that over the next month and a half pretty much showing that a bit over 2 million sales is all they can expect.

While not definitive in any way, the Eurogamer details for the first week sales breakdown by platform in the UK is telling:

More copies of Dragon Age II were sold on Xbox 360 across UK shops than any other platform - by far.

Chart-Track told Eurogamer this morning that Xbox 360 commanded 57 per cent of the total, whereas PS3 managed only 22 per cent.

The remaining 21 per cent was attributed to PC. Chart-Track doesn't count digital sales, such as those made on Steam.

Even with digital sales and taking into account different market preferences it's difficult to imagine the PC sales of DA2 to be any more than 30%, making a very rough estimate of 700,000 (more likely 500,000) copies sold at the very most until May.

 

[Regdar]

Kudos to the guy who can spot one thing wrong with this picture:

Bioware really know its (new) player base.

M:

 

[Andyman Messiah]

I give up. What is wrong with the picture? Is it your first time visiting BioWare?

Fucking virgin.

 

[Reptilian Shapeshifter]

This is up until the beginning of May. EA was crowing that it sold over a million DA2 copies in less than two weeks, and according to this then managed much less than that over the next month and a half pretty much showing that a bit over 2 million sales is all they can expect.

2 million? They should consider themselves lucky that they could scrounge up that many retards to pay for this shit. I wonder how many of those pathetic creatures will be return customers.

And...

The Witcher 2 is the best-looking ARPG action adventure game ever.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Kudos to the guy who can spot one thing wrong with this picture:

I know, I know. It's the "optional romances in ME3" part.

 

[felipepepe]

Obviously the wrong thing is that Stanley "End of the Line" Woo is still a moderator.

 

[Grimlorn]

VGChartz magical made-up numbers mean absolutely nothing. Just FYI.

Well here's some non-specific numbers from EA's 4th Quarterly 2011 shareholder report:

EA shipped seven titles in the fourth quarter that have already sold in over 1 million units each, life to date. Crysis® 2, Dragon Age™ 2, and Dead Space™ 2 each sold in more than two million units.

http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=574530

This is up until the beginning of May. EA was crowing that it sold over a million DA2 copies in less than two weeks, and according to this then managed much less than that over the next month and a half pretty much showing that a bit over 2 million sales is all they can expect.

While not definitive in any way, the Eurogamer details for the first week sales breakdown by platform in the UK is telling:

More copies of Dragon Age II were sold on Xbox 360 across UK shops than any other platform - by far.

Chart-Track told Eurogamer this morning that Xbox 360 commanded 57 per cent of the total, whereas PS3 managed only 22 per cent.

The remaining 21 per cent was attributed to PC. Chart-Track doesn't count digital sales, such as those made on Steam.

Even with digital sales and taking into account different market preferences it's difficult to imagine the PC sales of DA2 to be any more than 30%, making a very rough estimate of 700,000 (more likely 500,000) copies sold at the very most until May.

"Sold in" means shipped to stores. They haven't sold 2 million copies yet. Just wordplay for the investors or public. VGChartz is probably pretty close considering they showed DA2 sold 1 million in 2 weeks like what was announced. It's probably around 1.4 to 1.5 million now. Far away from the 3.5 million DAO sold. They know they fucked up.

 

[commie]

"Sold in" means shipped to stores. They haven't sold 2 million copies yet. Just wordplay for the investors or public. VGChartz is probably pretty close considering they showed DA2 sold 1 million in 2 weeks like what was announced. It's probably around 1.4 to 1.5 million now. Far away from the 3.5 million DAO sold. They know they fucked up.

Ahh, did not know this marketing speak. Well that makes me even happier if 'sold in' means something else than I thought. I just assumed it was an awkward way of writing 'game x was sold in quantity y'. Having experienced marketing illiteracy firsthand often enough it seemed that's what it meant.

2 million? They should consider themselves lucky that they could scrounge up that many retards to pay for this shit. I wonder how many of those pathetic creatures will be return customers.

The funny thing is that regardless of which way DA3 goes, they'll lose customers now; the retards that enjoy DA2 will hate a return to complexity if they go that way. Should they keep dumbing down more, then the few that stuck with them since DA:O will go and the DA2 lovin' crowd will not like any change in that direction either.

And...

The Witcher 2 is the best-looking ARPG action adventure game ever.

[/quote]

Oh you!