Dragon Age: Inquisition Pre-Release Thread

[Oriebam]

what do you think Volourn? What does this tell about glorious video game company?

 

[Psquit]

ME3 ending

Thats reminds me of the extended endings of ME3, where the Reapers help us rebuild...

 

[Black Shogun]

http://kotaku.com/5936145/report-more-dragon-age-iii-info-possible-names-and-concept-art-leak

No. No. NONONONONOONONONONONO!

 

[Sabriana]

After the disasters that were DA2, ME3, and TOR, I'll just be waiting and seeing. If the game comes with a malware/spyware/your-computer-belongs-to-us DRM, they can stick it where the sun don't shine right of the bat. I wonder how many lies they will tell, and how shitty their PR is going to be this time around. It could be highly amusing to watch.

Although I do wonder which one of their shills gets a glorious walk-on this time around. I don't recall any of the 'game journalists' doing sexy stuff with an electronic device, like Allers did, in recent times though.

 

[Volourn]

"After the disasters that were DA2, ME3, and TOR, I'll just be waiting and seeing."

Spamming bullshit doesn't make it true. All 3 of these made dough and all three sold 2mil+. HOW THE FUCK IS THOSE DISASTERS? ffs

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

"After the disasters that were DA2, ME3, and TOR, I'll just be waiting and seeing."

Spamming bullshit doesn't make it true. All 3 of these made dough and all three sold 2mil+. HOW THE FUCK IS THOSE DISASTERS? ffs

They're still shit games.

 

[Commissar Draco]

"After the disasters that were DA2, ME3, and TOR, I'll just be waiting and seeing."

Spamming bullshit doesn't make it true. All 3 of these made dough and all three sold 2mil+. HOW THE FUCK IS THOSE DISASTERS? ffs

For corparate owned studio anything less than 10 million sells for an AAA game consoltated game is flop. But Volourn, Volourn never changes. Expensive shit games which sells same as cheap Potato shit like Twicher is liability for EA board.

 

[Sabriana]

A pile of garbage is a pile of garbage, no matter how well it sells. Aside from that, isn't 2 million a bit low for TOR, an MMORPG? I could be wrong there, because I don't do MMORPG's, but it sounds like a bust to me. I heard somewhere that WoW has ~9million subscribers, counted around August 2012.

 

[Volourn]

"For corparate owned studio anything less than 10 million sells for an AAA game consoltated game is flop."

Bullshit. Even fukkin' Madden doesn't sell 10mil every eyar. FFS

And, the NHL series is fukkin' lucky to sell even 1mil copies. FFS

Why do you lie?


"I heard somewhere that WoW has ~9million subscribers, counted around August 2012"

A MMO doesn't need WOW type numbers to succeed. Majority of even successfuil MMos don't sell more than a mil or two.

A SP game also doens't need to sell SIM, COD, Tetris or Madden type numbers to succeed.

DA2 has sold 2mil+ and it was a lost less expensive to make than DA1 likely making it profitable.

ME3 was selling at a way faster cllip than either earlier ME.

KOTOR MMO is tricker since while it sold very well (2mil+) it was also REALLy expensive to make but even then EA claimed they onl;y need to sell a mil copies and have a healthy number of subscribers to be successful thoguh it is even tricker now that they are going to free for pay model. It definitely dissapointed EA success wise but a 'disaster' or 'bomb'? Nah.

As for opinions on quality, that's irrelevant and unimportant. EA don't give a shit if individual persoanlly don't like a game.

I don't tive a fuck about KOTOR MMO. So much I have never bought or played it.

R00fles, FUKKIN', r00fles!

 

[catfood]

Bullshit.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

BULLSHITZ

Fix'd for truthz.

 

[DalekFlay]

Anyone who thinks EA is making and marketing the ME and DA series for 2 million in sales is fucking retarded.

 

[Volourn]

Yeah, ebcause they really expect those series to outsell Madden. LMFAO

 

[Sabriana]

They expected far more than what they got. They cancelled the DA2 expansion because it did so poorly. They were aiming to enlarge Bioware/EA's market, hence the birth of the "awesome button". However, due to the ineptitude of quite a few people, they managed to not only lose what they had, but failed to attract the 'casual console crowd'.

I bet there was crying and hand-wringing when they saw that Skyrim pulled in the money hand over fist. Now they are looking at Bethesda's Skyrim for inspiration. Even though thinking about a Bioware/Bethsoft hybrid is very scary, it also could be interesting to watch.

Even for a non-MMORPG fan like me, a global subscriber base of only 2 million and dropping steadily, for a game that cost many million to make sounds like a major bust. Weren't they even talking of going to 'free-play'?

 

[CrustyBot]

They expected far more than what they got. They cancelled the DA2 expansion because it did so poorly. They were aiming to enlarge Bioware/EA's market, hence the birth of the "awesome button". However, due to the ineptitude of quite a few people, they managed to not only lose what they had, but failed to attract the 'casual console crowd'.

I bet there was crying and hand-wringing when they saw that Skyrim pulled in the money hand over fist. Now they are looking at Bethesda's Skyrim for inspiration. Even though thinking about a Bioware/Bethsoft hybrid is very scary, it also could be interesting to watch.

Even for a non-MMORPG fan like me, a global subscriber base of only 2 million and dropping steadily, for a game that cost many million to make sounds like a major bust. Weren't they even talking of going to 'free-play'?

r00fles!

 

[Sabriana]

r00fles!

Oh my stars, he's actually named. R00fles indeed. Who knew?

Yes, he's way better than anyone, awesome stats (well, except for the suspiciously low INT stat), and a celebrity to boot. I shall hang my head in shame and humiliation.

 

[Volourn]

KOTOR MMO: I already stated that they didn't do as well with KOTOR MMO as they expected to. But, that's FAR from a disaster. And, if DA2 was such a disaster they wouldn't be making DA3. Yeha, a proposed (not official) expansion was canceled but because crybaby stores whined about the internetz. *shrug* 2MIL+ copies sold for a game that took a fraction of the time and cost way less than DA1 was stoill profitable and not a disster. Do you even know what 'disaster' is. Disaster is when you go out of bizness because no publisher will work with you period. A disaster is when your publisher tyells you to fuck in making a sequel to your one and only original Ip because it sucked too fukkin' bad and they diss you in a very public way. A disaster is when the people you hire to make a sequel to your purchased proptery otusells your sequel to a dead game. A disaster is when you are a 'middle of the rad' dev/pub and your game sells a mil+ yet you barely can make ends meet. A disaster is when your only option is to make the same fukkin' game/series 20 times. FFS THOSE are disasters. L0LZ


@ Abnaxus link: L0L Talk about old skool. That's 11 fukkin' years ago. L0L haven't even posted or read those boards forever. Better go down memory lane. Heh.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

A disaster is when good people like Troika go out of business and hacks like Bioware continue to make gay dwarf-on-elve rape fantasies.

 

[Oriebam]

A disaster is when your publisher tyells you to fuck in

 

[Telengard]

The talk of EAs overall business model is based on stray comments about games under the EA umbrella.

For instance, the Dead Space series sells at about 2 million too, but there is talk of the series being canned if Dead Space 3 sales doesn't reach 5 mil: http://www.computerandvideogames.co...frank-chat-with-eas-gibeau/?page=4#top_banner

In general we're thinking about how we make this a more broadly appealing franchise, because ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space. Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them. We feel good about that growth but we have to be very paranoid about making sure we don't change the experience so much that we lose the fanbase.

Plus Kingdoms of Amalur going down for failing to reach 2 million sales. And 2 millions was the break even point. They would have needed 3 mil to actually turn a profit.

The Dragon Age series almost certainly has similar demands placed on it. It's not hard to imagine DA3 needing 3 mil or even 4 mil tin sales for the series to survive. After all, EA doesn't just want a modest return on its investment - it could put its money into a bank for that. It wants a high return on its investment.

And with DA2s sales stumble, funding for DA3 could actually even be yanked at this stage, and at any time, whenever EA goes through their next reorganization. It wouldn't be the first time they've done that to a modestly successful series, and for the same reason.

 

[Sabriana]

A disaster is many things, but a business disaster is what Bioware/EA are demonstrating right now, and what EA has demonstrated over the years. The only difference now is that Bioware/EA is nose-diving more publicly than Bullfrog/Westwood/Mythic/etc.

DA3 is most likely their last chance before EA drops them as a semi-entity and absorbs them completely, keeping the name for their own purposes and sitting on the IP. Poor Origin, poor Mythic, what they have done to your once good name. Shameful, really.

Volly, when I first ran into you some years ago, a lot of people tried to point out to you that there is a difference between 'sold to' and 'sold in'. By now I simply believe that you ignore the explanation on purpose. Nobody can be that dense, right?

Bethsoft and their enormous success with Skyrim (I think they sold in ~10 mill and counting) has Pepsi-man and consorts green with envy, and that's why Bioware is now 'looking into Skyrim' for pointers. As already pointed out, EA is not interest in upper modest but steady income, they want it all, right now. Like CoD, or GW. They want the casual console crowd that adores awesome buttons, sayan samurai baddies, and cool moves with lots of pew-pew.

 

[Black Shogun]

Honestly, now that I think about it, I hope they release this game. And once they release it, I know that it'll sell well, since there are so many Casual, Console, Call of Duty Skyrim douches out there who'd buy it. Because I know that I'll be keeping my Jewish gold.

 

[Volourn]

"lus Kingdoms of Amalur going down for failing to reach 2 million sales. And 2 millions was the break even point. They would have needed 3 mil to actually turn a profit."

Special circumstances because of the silly loan they took oiut and it was a start up company that's entire existence was based on said loan.


"The Dragon Age series almost certainly has similar demands placed on it. It's not hard to imagine DA3 needing 3 mil or even 4 mil tin sales for the series to survive. After all, EA doesn't just want a modest return on its investment - it could put its money into a bank for that. It wants a high return on its investment."

Oh, I agree. EA definitely expects DA3 to hit high levels.


"And with DA2s sales stumble, funding for DA3 could actually even be yanked at this stage, and at any time, whenever EA goes through their next reorganization. It wouldn't be the first time they've done that to a modestly successful series, and for the same reason."

Yet, EA has the NHL series which is fortunate to sell even a mil copies yet continues to be hyped as a success even though EA's others sports franchises dwarfs it in sales and success. It keeps up truckin'.


"DA3 is most likely their last chance before EA drops them as a semi-entity and absorbs them completely, keeping the name for their own purposes and sitting on the IP."

If DA3 does poorly, DA will be over but I don't see them stopping the use of the BIO brand name barring huge unforeseen things.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

2 million units sold within the first 2 weeks. Considering DA2 had a very short development cycle (12-14 months), this definitely was very profitable. But short development cycles do not suite Bioware well (remember the fan backslash and butthurt), and Bio recognized that, hence DA3 will have to sell a bit more with it's 3 year development cycle.

 

[Angthoron]

2 million units sold within the first 2 weeks. Considering DA2 had a very short development cycle (12-14 months), this definitely was very profitable. But short development cycles do not suite Bioware well (remember the fan backslash and butthurt), and Bio recognized that, hence DA3 will have to sell a bit more with it's 3 year development cycle.

I'm not sure that it's very profitable, but I guess it was fairly so. Biggest issue for Bio's games is, from the suits' point of view (and not looking at TOR) is the continued failure to break into new markets, which was probably the main cause of EA purchase of BioWare in the first place, and with all the "positive" publicity around it, I don't see Bio breaking new markets with their next games either, in fact the most likely thing is that their sales will actually start falling for a whole pile of reasons. Of course, society keeps disappointing me so it might be the fucking opposite, or Bio might even make a good game, so, there's always room for unexpected events.