Jade Empire key art showing a masked character holding up a sword over an orange smoke background.

Jade Empire launched at an awkward time. Nestled between the iconic Knights of the Old Republic duology and the debut of two of BioWare’s most defining franchises, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, it was completely eclipsed and struggled to draw an audience, selling under one million copies in its first year.

To make things worse, it launched at the tail-end of the Xbox’s life cycle, just six months before the 360 stepped onto the scene. Today, it’s fondly remembered as an underrated gem of BioWare’s golden age, but co-founder Greg Zeschuk argued on the My Perfect Console podcast (as reported by GamesRadar) that it could have been a flagship series had he not listened to Xbox’s “absolute moronic advice”.

“Microsoft was like ‘no no, you should release it now, right at the end of the cycle, because it’s a great time.’ It was the worst advice, absolute moronic advice from them, the stupidest thing ever. We could have rezzed [Jade Empire] up, we could have amped it up. We could have said no. I just think it would have been a way more successful product at the beginning of a cycle than the end.”

Promotional art of the player character in Jade Empire.

The Xbox 360 Didn’t Have An RPG Launch Title

Jade Empire Could’ve Filled That Gap

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What’s especially bizarre about Xbox’s advice is that the 360 didn’t have an RPG at launch, so Jade Empire would’ve easily stood out among the competition. Most of the line-up comprised shooters and sports games, like Call of Duty and Need for Speed, leaving an entire niche untapped that BioWare could have capitalised on.

We’ll never know, but had Jade Empire launched just a few months later, at the end of 2005, maybe it’d be regarded as one of the BioWare flagships, up there with Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

But if you’ve never played this cult classic, there’s still time to remedy that. It’s backwards compatible on Xbox and readily available on PC for just £15. And while it’s similar to other BioWare games of that era, it easily stands out with its real-time martial arts combat and unique Chinese myth backdrop. Jade Empire might not have been hugely popular, but those who did play it swear by it all these years later for good reason.