Sources shed light on why Dragon Age: The Veilguard flopped
Fans were excited for the return of Dragon Age last year. Unfortunately, Dragon Age: The Veilguard had stripped away much of what made the previous games great. It turns out the majority of those issues stemmed from a 2017 decision from EA executives, forcing BioWare to tap into the multiplayer market.
In a new report, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier shares the complete behind-the-scenes story of Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s development. Work on the next Dragon Age game began in 2017, but a mandate from EA to make the next game multiplayer pushed studio heads like Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah out of the company.
In the years that followed, BioWare began building a more light-hearted BioWare game, doing away with the high-stakes events and serious tone that fans knew from previous games in the series. The changes were supposed to improve the ‘mass appeal’ of the game for a wider market of multiplayer gamers. Later down the line, playtesters specifically pointed to the ‘tone’ of the game as one of its weak points, a sentiment later shared in reviews for the final game.
BioWare was able to convince EA to change its mind eventually. After the pandemic, Dragon Age: The Veilguard shifted back into being a single-player game, but EA would not provide more resources or time to allow BioWare to make the major changes the game needed. As a result, much of the game’s original story had to remain in place. Some rewrites attempted to make the game more serious and some pivotal ‘player choice’ moments were shoehorned in, but without the extra time to go back and undo past mistakes, Dragon Age: The Veilguard ended up suffering from inconsistencies.
Ultimately, Dragon Age: The Veilguard was not considered a sales success by EA and it is claimed that employees are concerned about the future of the studio. BioWare has had three sales flops in a row, starting with Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem in 2017 and 2019, followed by Dragon Age in 2024. At this point in time, a team of less than 50 BioWare devs are working on the next Mass Effect game.
KitGuru Says: After Veilguard, I doubt we’ll be seeing Dragon Age again, even if BioWare does survive long enough to release Mass Effect 5.
