You could say the same about 99% of the stories that hit HN about upset customers, poor support, bad interfaces, unfair license agreements, sexist language, or

You could say the same about 99% of the stories that hit HN about upset customers, poor support, bad interfaces, unfair license agreements, sexist language, or whatever. Why is this a big deal? Customers are unhappy. The why is only important to the extent that it lets you figure out how to fix it. It's a mistake made over and over and over by companies dealing with unhappy customers: "Hey, this isn't that big a deal - you guys shouldn't be that upset!" This doesn't work; you can't argue a customer out of being unhappy, and trying to do so makes it worse. The more the customer thinks that you don't understand and sympathise with his complaint, the harder it is to make them happy. (And this is just as true - if not more so - when the complaint really is ridiculous.) Bioware has a very loyal fanbase; it's an incredibly valuable asset, and they need to keep them happy, no matter how silly the complaints may be. tl;dr: It's a big deal because Bioware thinks (probably correctly) that a critical mass of customers think it's a big deal. And that's all that matters.