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Who you date, who you murder – it's all up to you in Baldur's Gate 3 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Though, a former EA employee says BioWare's latest Dragon Age installment isn't quite as graceful about it as Larian's D&D masterpiece.
Speaking to FRVR in a new podcast episode, former EA designer Alex Hutchinson speculates on what will happen to what the publisher calls its "player-first values" after a group, including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, recently moved to buy it for $55 million. Hutchinson thinks that "maybe" the country, in which LGBTQ people and activities are criminalized, will negatively impact BioWare's proud history of including queer options in its games, but the Dragon Age developer is already hurting itself.
"You look at, say, Baldur's Gate 3 and the last Dragon Age," says Hutchinson, "and both very LGBTQ+ friendly, but one handled it perfectly, and one fumbled it."
"Baldur's Gate 3 just supports you and any decision that you make," Hutchinson continues, "but it doesn't feel like it has an agenda. But it lets you – which is, I think, exactly how to handle all of those issues. Like, embrace people's cool choices, but don't front-load it." Speak for yourself – I'd like my lady orcs to date other lady orcs under the bright light of day.
According to Hutchinson, though, EA's new owners likely won't mind my preferences – or anyone else's romantic desires. He says their approach to LGBTQ content will "just be sales-driven."
"If it makes money," he says cynically, "they'll let you do it forever."
