Biowares missed opportunities

Biowares newest RPG Dragon Age is coming out soon and the reviews are slowly coming in. It's an RPG in the spirit of the old school RGPs and as such it's getting compared to Biowares older games Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. Yet how many of the Dragon Age target audience have played those games? I haven't played them but I've been wanting to play them for a while now. Sadly they are on none of the major online distribution channels.

In comparison, Majesty 2 came out a while ago and the publishers used the old game to create more sales of the sequel. Pre-order Majesty 2 and you get to play the original Majesty for free immediately. I replayed the original game in anticipation of the sequel and it made me want the sequel even more.

Seeing how Baldur's Gate is in the top 5 most wanted games on gog.com I wonder why they do not have a big re-release of Biowares catalogue. There's a niche for classic PC games and the release of a triple A game is the perfect time to put them in the spotlight. More and more publishers seem to realize this. Months prior to the launch of Tropico 3 the two original games were bundled and put on steam. And a few months ago Lucasarts put their old back catalogue on steam.

Players who enjoy playing Dragon Age might also want to try out its spiritual predecessor. If I read a book by a good author I want to read more of him. If I see a good movie I'll be interested in more movies of the same director. And if I play a great game I want to play the developers older games. Biowares older games Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic will surely see a raise in sales the months following Dragon Ages review.

So please Bioware: put those old classics online. I'll be the first to pay you to play them. As it is now you're just loosing money. People who want to play these classics are forced to buy them second handed. Give us the option to give our money to the developers!

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