Asmongold Assigns Blame for BioWare Closure, and Some Players Agree

Blogger Asmongold says game journalists distorted player feedback and gave developers a false picture of what players expect.

BioWare was recently shut down, and the studio’s new Mass Effect game was announced as canceled. Players began recalling Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which many people criticized online, even though many outlets gave it 9 to 10 out of 10.

A clip of a talk by Asmongold has gone viral in the gaming community. He links layoffs in the games industry to developers such as BioWare losing touch with what players actually expect.

In the blogger’s view, the false picture of player needs came from game journalists who gave high scores to games that the wider audience did not like:

The main thing I want to stress: I hold all game journalists especially responsible who constantly try to drown out criticism from real players, and then, for ideological reasons, twist it and present it as unfounded. I hold every game journalist who gave [Dragon Age: The Veilguard] 9 out of 10 especially responsible. Everyone who rated it highly just to go against other people’s opinions. I am absolutely convinced that all these people are responsible for these studios closing.

Image source: Electronic Arts

Many participants in the discussion agreed with Asmongold:

To be honest, he’s not all that wrong. The market is the only guide you need. Sales, money, players. The big three. — 12birb

Unfortunately… He’s right about this. Negative reinforcement plays a very important role in human learning. That’s how we grow and learn to avoid mistakes. The last two years of mass layoffs in the industry have shown that a “participation trophy” culture has done more harm than good to these studios. — stikves

He’s right. Game journalists are not art critics. They act as intermediaries between the audience and the companies that make games. If journalists don’t do their job, companies get the wrong signals, their games don’t sell, and hundreds or thousands of employees can be left without an income. — dayvsterdev

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