Dragon Age 2 - Interview @ Eurogamer

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Eurogamer talked with Frank Gibeau, President of EA Games. In this talk, he admitted that
we lost some fans as well. They were not pleased with some of the innovations and things we'd done. We understand that and we're listening.
Before that he had this to say
We're very proud of the game. We tried to innovate and do some different things with the combat system and some of the way we told story. For some fans it worked well. In fact, we brought a lot of new fans into the Dragon Age franchise.
Thanks to Merllle on the Bioware DA2 forums for help in finding this.
More information.
 
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The two statements to me seem to contradict each other. It is by the very nature the changes that lost them some fans of the original (supposedly) brought in new fans. In that context what does understanding and listening really mean? Doesn't seem to mean much to me.
 
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Selling numbers clearly show how many new fans they got.
 
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What does it mean? That this guy behaves live a lover who made a cuckold of his/her partner, lost him/her, still want to enjoy the many sex affairs this cheating has been bringing and want to reconquer the lost lover.

Smokes and mirrors. He want to keep the new acquired fans and would like to regain the lost fans to cheat on them again.

Seduction, seduction.
 
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The two statements to me seem to contradict each other. It is by the very nature the changes that lost them some fans of the original (supposedly) brought in new fans. In that context what does understanding and listening really mean? Doesn't seem to mean much to me.

They lost more fans than they gained, basically. These companies are all trying to walk a high-wire where they please established fans but also get new fans. If you go too far one way you lose your customer base and if you go too far the other way you don't gain any new fans.

DA2 got some new fans but it lost WAY more people who bought the original. In the end it sold half as well. So now they are trying to roll that back and say the next game will have a better balance. They have already confirmed on their forum that the new combat and voiced character are staying though, so they aren't willing to budge too much it seems.

It's worth noting Fallout New Vegas outsold all recent Bioware games by a huge margin with no voiced PC dialogue.
 
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It's worth noting Fallout New Vegas outsold all recent Bioware games by a huge margin with no voiced PC dialogue.

Is that just from comparing sales someplace or is there an article? I ask only because I have been in a long debate (on another forum) about VO for the PC and this statement I could use in my favor if I had something to back it up :)

I can search on sales but figured you might have something handy.
 
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I doubt Frank Gibeau has ever touched a videogame in his life, whatever comes out of his mouth has one purpose only: driving stock prices up(that's how he makes money). Sure isn't going to provide real answers to game-related questions.

DA2 didn't flop due to a few innovations/welcoming/dumbing down features attracting a different demographic while displeasing some of the previous game's fans. It flopped because EA had Bioware rush an expansion into a full-blown sequel and the end result was an overall poorer game for everyone.

Of course the shareholders don't want to hear that, "we dumped some of the small core audience in return for some of that larger untapped market segment, we'll attract even more of them next time" sounds a lot better and makes them sound more competent and investment-worthy than "we stuck our lazy, greedy dicks in it and fucked up".
 
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They had a very dumb icon walking around a even dumber city for hours doing nothing...saving nothing....like teenagers in a mall...and hoped this would pass as a RPG game. They Fked up and they know it....what more can be said..

Side note i replayed a few of the quest and there was no way to do or save the icons( i use icons as they were not characters to me) So to me it was a very poor poor game indeed...
 
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The two statements to me seem to contradict each other. It is by the very nature the changes that lost them some fans of the original (supposedly) brought in new fans. In that context what does understanding and listening really mean? Doesn't seem to mean much to me.
Not everyone can handle the awesomeness.
 
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we lost some fans as well. They were not pleased with some of the innovations and things we'd done. We understand that and we're listening.
:D This made my day. I find it very funny. Are we sure this guy is for real and it's not just satire or something? Either that or I can imagine him being completely stuck if someone asks him what exactly his company makes... "we do like, innovations and stuff, you know"
 
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I think he is not even real. Frank Gibeau is basicly a pr bot that is controlled from John Ricotello's office. Doctor bots failed so John had to summon Frank. ;)
 
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Is that just from comparing sales someplace or is there an article? I ask only because I have been in a long debate (on another forum) about VO for the PC and this statement I could use in my favor if I had something to back it up :)

I can search on sales but figured you might have something handy.

I don't have it handy but New Vegas sold over 5 million copies and neither DA2 or Mass Effect 2 got anywhere near that. Just google the titles and "sales figures" or something similar.
 
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The only plaice if you consider it to be right is www.vgchartz.com. The problem is digital sales aren't tracked. Everyone laughs and says there not accurate but its the only free site for info now. Last time I checked it said 1.5 million.
 
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Well you have to combine them by adding its not hard. Its the only place to get info on sales now.

I was just making it clear, because I said New Vegas sold 5 million above and when you click that link it looks like it sold much less. Some people might not notice it is divided up.

In any case I got my numbers from Bethesda and Bioware press releases, not sales estimations from sites like that.
 
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I was just making it clear, because I said New Vegas sold 5 million above and when you click that link it looks like it sold much less. Some people might not notice it is divided up.

In any case I got my numbers from Bethesda and Bioware press releases, not sales estimations from sites like that.

I found some of the press releases so was all set. Not that its a debate that will go anywhere or accomplish anything :)

I can live with VO - it won't break a game for me. But given a preference I prefer to not have it. I got in a huge tirade with someone else about Skyrim as they said that the only way to make the game great would be to add VO for the PC and also suggested this is the only way the game would sell enough copies to keep them in business - meaning the masses want VO now.
 
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