I know that some people hate alignment, and some people say it has no purpose in 5E. I disagree. Alignment provides a guideline for character development and a moral base to consider when taking actions in the game. Without alignment, many players would not consider their actions and simply do what they feel is the best option at the time. Additionally, there are alignment bound spells, abilities and races in the game. Alignment has wide-ranging effects that may not be immediately apparent in the moment-to-moment gameplay, but it can have major character and story ramifications when used properly.
I also know that they discussed this with WotC and Wizards said that they don't need to emphasize alignment. I think that this is the wrong choice, but if it's not going to be implemented in the main game, I would still like for the option to be there if a module editor is made available. It's a fundamental part of the D&D experience.
It is a major problem for D&D lore that alignment has been more ignored over time. The RP aspect of the game is built on alignment. The mechanics and world are build on the concept of alignments, both in the original types, and to different values and identities. Trying to remove this aspect of the game, while keeping the other parts of the game, just makes it inconsistent and very unsatisfying to play.
Unfortunately, as you noted, WotC actually endorses the unraveling of the fundamental D&D concepts, for reasons which don't matter for this game. So, Larian is getting away with doing what they honestly already want to do, which is make a game with much less RP focus, more combat focus, and ignore the thematic limitations and restrictions that made D&D interesting in the first place. Storytelling, with unforgiving themes and difficult character choices, is being left behind because of somewhat midguided motivations of newer designers and executives in the game business. Just look at what they decided to do by destroying the concept of good and evil in different races in a completely fictional fantasy univere. This fundamental component of D&D is being ripped out without concern for how it weakens the appeal and value of the game.
So, in the case of BG3, what we're getting is a strange product: after 50 years of RPG game innovation based on D&D, the biggest electronic adaptation of the game, with one of the few official licenses of the brand, is now a major departure from the core principles of the game, and is instead a good example of decades of derivative and generalized RPG game mechanics, which ultimately are descended from D&D. This game could just as easily have been made without any association with the brand, and it would not be similar enough to be at risk of copyright infringement, since so much of the generic RPG style has come from D&D. So, alignment, as important and valuable as it is, was the first thing to be eliminated by both the licensor and the developer. I wish this trend could be reversed, but unfortunately, cultural and political trends have forced this type of storytelling out of favor.
