Originally Posted by Wormerine
Originally Posted by machinus
The poor quality of the product you mentioned, despite making it through the approval process, should serve as a warning to gamers who might still associate these brands with quality. I think many customers still do, which is why this process is profitable. Eventually, though, customers (like many on this forum who know D&D from editions before 5E) will realize that WotC cannot be trusted to choose good partners, and the brand will lose value. This has already happened to some of their other products.
That's possible of course, but with BG3 overwhelmingly positive reception from players and critics one can assume it will be considered "a quality product" even if some hardcore fanbase will be disappointed. Maybe it will even replace D:OS2 as "best RPG of all time!" Anyway, what was the last decent D&D PC game. NWN2?

The customers are being drawn from multiple pools. I believe experienced PC gamers will be disappointed with the shallow game mechanics and strange obsession with melodrama and cinematics. People who only know DOS will probably like it. I think some people who love anime and inspirational or woke TV shows might enjoy this game. And, I believe the D&D community will be very disappointed with this game, and will pan it in the same way you have just done -- by lumping it in with the other disappointments from the last 20 years.