In my opinion, the main thing going against this game was how it was marketed/revealed. There was very little hype when it was announced, it seemed. Here are some of the issues going into this:
- It took too long to come out. People have moved on and better RPGs in a similar setting have came out.
- The rumors/stories around the development hell of this game really hurt it. Anytime you hear stories of development struggles where it seems like the game is being completely remade or restructured, hype for the game becomes less.
- BioWare's track record has become questionable due to their recent releases. Where before, fans would line up day one for a new BioWare game, their recent releases have now made people be more wait and see on their games. This impacts hype for a game greatly.
So with those three things hurting the hype for the game at its announcement/updates they were already coming in down. To get over bad hype at the start, you need to show things that help increase hype, and get gamers to believe you are going to deliver a solid game.
And this is where I believe "chuds" made their impact. As they were trying to show more of the game to try to drum up hype, all the "wokeness" dialogue seemed to be cranked up to 11. So while they were trying to get people excited for the game, negative attitudes were growing even more for the game.
You may think that only "chuds" making anti-woke statements would only impact gamers who are part of forums like these, but it goes beyond that. Having a negative narrative about a game, spreads beyond enthusiasts. Why? Because us enthusiasts are the ones to help the "normals" by suggesting games to try. If they hear someone being negative about a game, and even if this "chud" did not share their opinion on wokeness, it could still counteract any positive marketing.
In other words: word-of-mouth, even before game release, matters.
I personally find most woke arguments dumb and tiring. And I think that yes, those in the "anit-woke" crowd can and does impact game sales. However, BioWare needs to be honest with themselves, that they were already facing an uphill battle with this game, that was going to be very challenging to get over. The "chuds" just made it that much harder for them.
To blame "anit-wokeness" as the the main cause for the failure, is them not being honest with themselves. It helped, but it more than likely still would have failed without it.