Dragon Age 2

[Orogun01]

PC version sold very little as it was mostly pirated. Bio doesn't want to spend a lot of money on the next PC version. Big surprise.

So they figured let's move to the console and become more actiony

[kirottu]

PC version sold very little as it was mostly pirated. Bio doesn't want to spend a lot of money on the next PC version. Big surprise.

 

Wat? Where did you come up with this?

[Wrath of Dagon]

Bio said DAO mostly sold on consoles (in spite of being originally designed with a PC audience in mind), and piracy rates for single player PC games are at around 90%.

[Nihilus5078]

Are they really that high? Man, people are sure getting greedy and sneaky these days.

[Morgoth]

Bioware's focus was always on consoles, since Kotor. That shouldn't come as a surprise.

 

Releasing DA as PC only would have been a suicide mission.

[Monte Carlo]

^ And the bad news is that they can only run PC games as a loss-leader into consoles for existing gamers for so long.

[sorophx]

actually, the real figures on piracy look more like 5-10%, with some countries (China and Russia, hello) exceeding 80%

[Monte Carlo]

It would appear that meaningful enforcement in those jurisdictions is impossible, which is odd seeing as China can get Google to bend to it's will on political content. But not warez.

 

Hmmm.

[Wrath of Dagon]

actually, the real figures on piracy look more like 5-10%, with some countries (China and Russia, hello) exceeding 80%

When people talk about piracy, they usually mean in the West, no one expects China or Russia to pay anything. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29768/M...Piracy_Rate.php

 

If the piracy rate is only 5-10%, why did an obviously PC centric game like DAO sell poorly on PC?

[Tale]

If the piracy rate is only 5-10%, why did an obviously PC centric game like DAO sell poorly on PC?

Can you cite a source for it selling 'poorly?' As opposed to simply it not selling as well as the console versions.

[Wrath of Dagon]

I'm not aware of any hard numbers, but what Bio said about PC sales and the way they're treating the DA2 PC version is a pretty good indicator IMO.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Wrath of Dagon

[Tale]

They're not treating the PC version any way in particular. They're treating all versions. The worst you can say is that they're trying to make it more like Mass Effect, which reflects on the better reception of Mass Effect. Not poor sales of DAO's PC version.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Tale

[Wrath of Dagon]

Why would you remove the overhead view from the PC version unless you're just porting from the 360 and don't much care about the PC version, since it's pretty obvious most PC players prefer the overhead view? And they said DAO was received better than ME, so yes they're trying to consolize because that's where most of their sales are, not because they think ME sells better.

[Tale]

They're not removing overhead from PC. Just consoles won't have it.

 

Heck, look at Bos_Hybrid's post. They're working to keep tactical view for the PC. And were working on camera angles specifically for it.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Tale

[Morgoth]

I think bioware already stated that the reason why they remove the isometric view is for performance reason. If you zoom out, you have to calculate more polygons plus more textures are visible thus they must be loaded. In DAO that was pretty much a non-issue since the game wasn't so power-hungry.

[Wrath of Dagon]

They said you won't be able to zoom out as far. Free camera doesn't cost them anything probably, so they can put that in.

 

Edit: That only makes sense for a console port. If they were developing for PC first, certainly any PC can handle overhead views. The performance issue is just an excuse because they don't want to admit they're porting from console.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Wrath of Dagon

[Spider]

They had a great success with DA:O, so now EA wants to capitalize and get a sequel out the door with as little turnaround time as possible. So the game needs to be streamlined and stuff needs to be cut.

 

This is why they're going with the dialogue wheel and this is why they're removing the top down view from the PC. Since a majority of the sales are on the console, adding features that are PC exclusive just isn't a viable decision given the tight deadline. This does not mean DA:O sold poorly on the PC, just that it sold better on the consoles, just like any other game with a multi-platform release will do these days.

 

So yes, it makes perfect sense for them to focus on console play. I don't have to like it, but it still makes sense. So while the game may be developed for both platform simultaneously, it will still feel like a console port, much like Kotor and any Bioware game since did (except DA:O).

[Wrath of Dagon]

All the other Bio games since KOTOR were console ports, they came out on the console first. DAO was the only one meant as a true PC game, but even there they realized at the end it wasn't viable and had to quickly do console ports.

[Spider]

ME2 was a simultaneous release, just as DA2 will be.

[Volourn]

"And they said DAO was received better than ME"

 

ME not ME2.

[Nightshape]

They had a great success with DA:O, so now EA wants to capitalize and get a sequel out the door with as little turnaround time as possible. So the game needs to be streamlined and stuff needs to be cut.

 

This is why they're going with the dialogue wheel and this is why they're removing the top down view from the PC. Since a majority of the sales are on the console, adding features that are PC exclusive just isn't a viable decision given the tight deadline. This does not mean DA:O sold poorly on the PC, just that it sold better on the consoles, just like any other game with a multi-platform release will do these days.

 

So yes, it makes perfect sense for them to focus on console play. I don't have to like it, but it still makes sense. So while the game may be developed for both platform simultaneously, it will still feel like a console port, much like Kotor and any Bioware game since did (except DA:O).

 

To be honest I met alot of hostility from folk because they basically expected a fantasy ME, which it is now becoming from the looks of it.

[Tale]

Fantasy ME? Isn't that redundant?

 

Sorry, sorry. That's just my bitterness at Space Opera. I'll skulk away now.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Tale

[Orogun01]

To be honest I met alot of hostility from folk because they basically expected a fantasy ME, which it is now becoming from the looks of it.

Considering that ME sold less units than DA I don't know why is there hostility. BW eventually has to find out that you can't please everyone, probably if DA2 tanks because all the changes.

[Volourn]

ME is irrelevant. It's an oldm game. ME2 has sold more than DA.

 

Like i said ebfore, the real culprits for this change are the Codex. These guys claim to be harecore rpgs but they vastly prefered ME2 to DA so BIO is just doing what they promised - pleasing the old skool market with DA2 and since they prefer ME2, DA2 will be more like the game they want.

 

R00fles!

[Zoraptor]

Stop the Lies, Start the Truths! DAO sales>ME2 sales FACT! r00fles etc

I'm not aware of any hard numbers, but what Bio said about PC sales and the way they're treating the DA2 PC version is a pretty good indicator IMO.

The way the PC is being treated is a good indicator that development is being streamlined, that's all. It's more expensive to make multiple systems and as such the lowest common denominator- the PS3/360- is the one aimed for.

 

As I understand it the PC version sold more than the PS3 one at least. 1.14 million NPD (PS3/360) for its first two months (cf ME 2 ~800k over the same period :smug:) is considerably less than its total sales. Best guess is roughly 1 million on PC worldwide- though it's based on extrapolation.