Bioware has gone on record on why they decided Dragon Age: The Veilguard would not have a multiplayer mode.
On its face, it sounds like multiplayer could be an appealing idea for the Dragon Age franchise in general. On one end, Bioware’s games are multi party affairs, and if they can set things up just right, there could be fun to be found playing with each other’s Dragon Age OCs in multiplayer missions, and they could be working together or against each other.
And some of you may remember that Dragon Age: Inquisition had multiplayer, but unfortunately, it’s widely considered a flop. Many players did not touch the multiplayer mode, but those who did did not enjoy the experience.
This is partly connected to another Bioware title, Mass Effect 3, which also had multiplayer. There were more fans who liked this mode, though others complained that some content could only be accessed through multiplayer, and Bioware eventually relented and updated it so that you could access that content on the single player side too. It’s possible that Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer worked simply because it was a shooter.
We reported on a rumor over three years ago that Bioware saw the reaction to Dragon Age: Inquisition’s multiplayer, and then chose not to bring it back for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. But now we have official word on how they decided this.
In a new interview with GameInformer, BioWare general manager Gary McKay detailed the actual thought process the studio took and where they decided to pass on multiplayer again:
“We start out in pre-production. We spent a lot of time iterating, experimenting, and innovating on different things.
At one point, it was multiplayer – we did a hard look at multiplayer, but we felt we really couldn’t return to our roots. And when we asked ourselves, ‘What is the game that we want to develop,’ we really wanted to get back to our roots, which is amazing storytelling.
It’s about those unforgettable characters. And it’s about having the opportunity to influence the world. And we really felt multiplayer wouldn’t do that.
But single-player RPG is really where we wanted to spend our time, so after spending that time in pre-production, really honing in on what the vision of this game is, and [being] afforded the opportunity to deliver on the creative promise of this game, [now] we’re really excited about what’s coming out.”
Thankfully, this choice was made early on, and it was made with regards to the existential nature of Dragon Age itself. Bioware clearly took risks on other areas of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, as some fans still aren’t satisfied with the new art style. But the hardcore Dragon Age fans can rest assured that this is the same Dragon Age they have always played at its very core.
