While it’s incredibly fair to say that rumors and reports from unverified sources are a “common thing” in the video game industry, you’d think that certain kinds of stories about games and developers wouldn’t “circle around” because of how easy it would be to disprove such things. A great example of this comes from Bioware and its title, Dragon Age Inquisition. If you recall, the RPG arrived in 2014 and made an incredible splash among gamers and critics for its visuals, story, gameplay, and choices that people could make to change their experience. The title was such a hit that it won “Game Of The Year” at many outlets, including The Game Awards.
Yet, almost ten years later, a “story” about it kept circling. That “story” being that despite it being a GOTY and one of the best RPGs of the generation, if not multiple generations, it wasn’t a “commercial success.” That rumor has continued to this day in such a degree that the game’s director went onto Twitter to further confirm that it WAS a commercial success and blasted past the expectations that EA had for it:
He went on to note in a later tweet that the game “saved the quarter” for EA due to it doing so well in sales. So, why was it getting such a story “spun” about it when it was a lie? That might have to do with the upcoming title, Dragon Age The Veilguard, which is changing multiple elements from Dragon Age Inquisition, which has fans a bit worried. Those who don’t like the changes are possibly trying to tell lies about the older games to “explain the rationale.” Don’t give in to such hate, ladies and gentlemen. You should always judge a game or any other media property based on what you experience while attempting to enjoy it.
That all being said, it does raise one incredibly important question. If Bioware had such a hit in 2014, why did it take ten years to come out with a sequel? There are multiple answers for that, including interference from EA, who wanted to shift into live-service titles, and the fact that many at Bioware who helped make this RPG and a certain other hit RPG franchise they had aren’t there anymore.
The “identity” of Bioware has shifted many times over, and that’s why the upcoming title has been delayed endlessly and clearly gone through an identity shift at least once. Only time will tell if it recaptures the glory of a decade ago.
