YouTuber Fextralife speculated that BioWare is attempting to manipulate reviews by only handing out review codes to individuals who will give overwhelmingly positive reviews of the game.

A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare

In a recent video uploaded to YouTube, Fextralife noted that BioWare and its parent company EA were not providing review codes to individuals who were mildly critical of the game during a playtest and echoed the comments made by WolfheartFPS on X.

WolfheartFPS wrote, “3 creators myself included, were a bit more critical than others with our hands-on time with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Not a single one of us will be getting a review code with time to actually give opinions before release. Just thought I would throw that out there.”

In a subsequent post, he added, “Please keep in mind folks that this does not mean that my more critical opinion is better or more truthful than those who have been more positive. I’m just simply pointing out how marketing works. This also doesn’t mean the game will be bad, but it is something to consider.”

Please keep in mind folks that this does not mean that my more critical opinion is better or more truthful than those who have been more positive. I’m just simply pointing out how marketing works. This also doesn’t mean the game will be bad, but it is something to consider.

— WolfheartFPS (@WolfheartFPS) October 25, 2024

He also pushed back in response to YouTuber Kala Elizabeth noting that individuals who gave positive reviews did not get review copies as well. She wrote, “There were also people who were very positive and were also at the event who didn’t get review copies also. I definitely think you guys should have been given codes, but I just want to point out it wasn’t only people being more critical who weren’t given codes.”

WolfheartFPS responded, “I understand that and I did my research on this before posting. The point is more so that everyone I know of who was critical did not get a code, with 2 of us being HEAVILY involved in the party-based RPG scene. It’s just not a good look. It is however a good look on the investor side of the equation though.”

WolfheartFPS on X

After noting this, Fextralife observed that many individuals had expressed they would wait for reviews of the game before deciding to make a purchase after watching previews.

In fact, he even cited a poll conducted on his channel where 30% of responses indicated they were waiting on reviews compared to 12% saying they would be purchasing the game and 40% saying they were not interested at all.

Fextralife on YouTube

Next, he stated, “Looking at this, EA’s marketing team probably saw this and decided that they needed to make the reviews as positive as possible trying to exclude those that might give the game a seven or an eight while also reaching out, finding press and content creators that would maybe give the game a nine or above.”

“Just think about this for a second if you’re on the EA end and you’re trying to manipulate review scores because you want high review scores, what are you going to do? You’re going to research press and content creators and what they usually give to games score-wise to give you a general idea of how they’re going to review your game,” he added.

A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare

After noting how Fextralife never gives 9s or 10s, he said, “You’re about to get a bunch of reviews that have been curated by the publisher for their likelihood of being extremely positive in an attempt to manipulate your view of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. They want you think there is a universal consensus that the game is amazing thereby convincing you that you should try it, but also influencing future review scores as it’s difficult to be the outlier. If you’ve ever done a review for a game or something, you’ll realize that if you’re the only giving a high review when everyone else is giving it a low review score, it’s difficult. Or if you’re the only one giving it a low review score and everyone else is giving it a high review score, it’s a very difficult position to be in.”

“So if you see a bunch of positive review scores come out today, think about all the people that are going to be playing afterward and how much pressure they’re going to feel to give the game slightly better score than they would have given it just to avoid maybe some undue pressure. And sometimes that doesn’t even happen consciously. It’s just done subconsciously.”

A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare

Next, he noted, “I want to be very clear, here. That I don’t think the press and creators publishing their videos early are going to be lying. These reviewers have been screened to maximize the chances that you’re seeing positive reviews. There will probably be some exceptions, of course, I don’t think everyone’s going to give the game a positive review.

“But EA is banking that those are few and far between in an attempt to keep the aggregate score of the game high,” he added.

A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare

What do you make of Fextralife’s speculation and assertion that EA and BioWare are attempting to manipulate reviews for Dragon Age: The Veilguard?