First, let me give you the raw facts, in a recent interview Greg Zeschuk mentioned that their new milestone for the games they develop is to sell at least 10 million copies.
“We need to sell 10 million units. That’s actually the new target, right?”“We do Top 10 games, our stuff is quite successful. I know Mass [Effect 2] is number eight so far this year, in North America. Sometimes I am facetious when I say some of those things, knowing that we can sell a few million but seeing that someone else can sell 25. You’re kinda like, ‘Well, that’s a hit!’”
You know what; I do not blame any developer for wanting to sells, as many copies as they can, but it just sounds funny when you hear Bioware talking sales numbers….that just is not the Bioware that we’ve came to know over the past decade. The Bioware we got the know was a small independent development studio that puts innovation and creativity over anything else as it is what made games like Baulder’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, and even Mass Effect so appealing. These are all great games that offered a new experience never seen before within their genres. Bioware has always talked about how story is what drives their games and how they want to ensure that not only is the playing have a great gameplay and visual experience, but an enjoyable story experience as well.
Now maybe I’m just looking too deep into this and the only thing that Dr. Zeschuk meant was that in terms of finance, their goal is to sell no less than 10 million units of their games. However, what if Bioware truly does believe that not just in finance, but also in the overall scheme of things, if a game did not sale 10 million units then it is a failure? If so, that is a scary and even tragic notion coming from a developer whose best games ever did not even sale 10 million copies and that is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. So if Bioware had this type of mindset back in 2003, would KOTOR be considered a failure? Despite it having many revolutions to the RPG genre? Is Bioware officially at the point where innovation and creativity has taken the backseat to profit and more profit? Could this be the reason why Dragon Age 2 is so vastly different from Dragon Age: Origins, which was a hardcore RPG title that gave gamers that nostalgic Baulder’s Gate feeling? Dragon Age 2 might be a fun game, but it is nowhere near the “spiritual successor to Baulder’s Gate” that Dragon Age: Origins was. So if Bioware now only wants more sales, could the Dragon Age 2 be an example of how they are now seeking the “non RPG gamer” by toning down RPG aspects and playing up the combat aspects? This was brought up with Mass Effect 2 which has a vastly superior combat system than Mass Effect 1, but has a very watered down RPG system with very basic level ups and very linear mission design.
Is it safe to say that the Bioware we knew in the late 90s and even all the way through 2005 is no more? Is this the new age of Bioware, another development studio that once had great and unique games that did not always have blockbuster hits but their games were revolutionary becoming a development studio that has been “bought out” by a much larger publisher and in return abandoning their revolutionary ways to have a more profit seeking focus? Again, I am not saying that Bioware has sold us out; I am just throwing this out there to see what your opinions are because Bioware has recently been seen as alienating their core RPG fanbase in an attempt to draw in a much larger non-RPG audience. This has been seen with Mass Effect 2 and now even with Dragon Age 2, which again is, NOTHING like its hardcore RPG focused processor in Dragon Age: Origins.
In the meantime, I do like what they are doing with Star Wars: The Old Republic and yes, this will be a revolutionary MMO that will make games like World of Warcraft and even Tera obsolete. However, when it comes to their future titles, are we going to see games that have a clear focus on selling and not being unique?
Is Bioware now “indoctrinated” by Electronic Arts?
