Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier (formerly Kotaku editor) published a sharp article revealing the various problems that arose during the development of "Dragon Age: The Guardian of Shadows".
It is worth mentioning that Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier once openly provoked a widely circulated passage among the player group, "Go Woke, go Broke", and was then slapped in the face by the cold reality. I wonder if he had thought about his previous tweet when writing this article.
The following is a summary of the article:
BioWare is under tremendous pressure after the failures of "The Anthem" and "Androme" and "Dragon Age: The Guardian of Shadow" is regarded as the key to the survival of the studio.
The original idea (codenamed "Joplin") is a small single-player experience
In 2017, EA forced the project to switch to a multiplayer instant service model (codename: Morrison)
Creative Director Mike Laidlaw resigns due to this change
Matt Goldman takes over, changing the direction to a more relaxed, "popular" online game style
The failure of "The Anthem" in 2019 has caused internal doubts about whether it will repeat the same mistakes
Disruptions during the pandemic and continued change in leadership make development more complex
In 2020, the project was suddenly transferred back to single player mode, but there was no proper pre-production.
The team has only 18 months to restructure the structure and rewrite the story.
The intense development cycle leads to hasty decisions and the game lacks meaningful choices.
Despite the multiple extensions, it only "extended the defective structure" and failed to make substantial rework.
2022 Alpha test feedback points out that plot selection lacks influence
Trying to add "meaningful choices" at the last moment is just a superficial article, lacking depth and space
In 2023, BioWare will transfer the second team from the Mass Effect project team to assist in completing the game.
The two teams have serious cultural conflicts: The team's style of "Dragon Teng" is casual, while the team of "Mass Effect" is a strictly top-down structure
The Mass Effect team rewritten and added multiple plot passages, including the emotional ending of the game.
Longteng core members were frustrated by this, not only with the same resources but also withheld from key meetings
Due to EA's internal favoritism of the Mass Effect team, it has been a long-standing grudge
The original multiplayer version of the sarcastic tone seems outdated
Worrying that the game will be criticized like "Forspoken" and has temporarily revised a large number of dialogues
Dubbing actor strikes and overtime requirements hinder these changes
The first trailer looks like Fortnite, alienating traditional RPG fans
Marketing fails to accurately convey the actual tone and genre of the game.
BioWare's Future
BioWare accounts for only about 5% of EA's annual revenue.
EA's main sources of income are sports and shooting games.
Analysts believe that EA may continue to support BioWare given the high returns that RPG may bring.
But BioWare's continued decline has made people question whether its future will last.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they close tomorrow," said analyst Doug Creutz.
Summarize:
The development of this game is a disaster in almost every aspect, and the main problem comes from EA's forced implementation of a multiplayer service structure first and then reverse direction, which has resulted in a waste of time and talents, and has not allowed the team to start completely, and the mess can't be recovered in the end. It is really regrettable.
However, many players disdain Bloomberg's article, believing that this so-called "reporter" did not understand the problem at all: woke, DEI
Player: I never knew that ME and DA teams were mortal enemies
EA has once again been taken as the scapegoat by the media:
