Beelzebud wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 14:15:
Beamer wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 14:06:
Yakubs wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 11:44:
Acleacius wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 11:32:
Probably too much to hope for but let's hope this means they are pulling their head out of their nether region.
I doubt there's anyone left at BioWare with any talent. Talent is not compatible with a marketing- and focus-group- driven approach.
Much of the DA2 team is from the DA team, right down to the lead designer.
I'll never get the blame on marketing here. These companies don't have enough marketing intelligence and skill to make calls like this. It's the developers and designers that are making these choices.
You are vastly underestimating the focus that companies like EA put on marketing research. This is a company that spends more money on their marketing research than a lot of companies have to develop games.
Bioware's latest games all reek of "design by committee", where focus groups and marketing research play a huge role in shaping the way a game turns out. It's a large reason why you saw DA go from a cRPG style game, to an action-RPG. The marketing people thought they could squeeze a few more sales out of the DA2 approach.
Indeed. Market research is also another way to cover your ass. If the game fails the publisher can say "Well, the marketing research was very positive! The developer must have fucked something up!" If you greenlight a game with no market research and it bombs, guess who's head goes on the chopping block?
Just like in politics, people make decisions based on keeping their job (and maximizing their personal monetary gain).