Video games can “fail” for multiple reasons, and not all of them is on the developer or publishers. There are plenty of “cult classic” titles that were high-quality games; it’s just that many people didn’t give them a chance. There are also times when games are high-quality, but the developers/publishers never give them a big push marketing-wise, so people aren’t really “aware” of them and thus don’t buy them. Then, there are games like Dragon Age The Veilguard, which had plenty of push from Bioware and EA, but it also had a ton of baggage that was in the public eye, and that was a key reason why it failed. However, that’s not what Electronic Arts feels…
While speaking at an investors call, as noted by ComicBook.com, EA CEO Andrew Wilson made a bold statement, claiming that the reason the Bioware RPG failed wasn’t because of a lack of quality or marketing but because the game didn’t have live-service elements to help it “connect” with gamers:
“We know as a leader in global entertainment, great titles—even when built and delivered with polished execution—can sometimes miss our financial expectations. In order to break beyond the core audience, games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category. Dragon Age had a high-quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played; however, it did not resonate with a broad-enough audience in this highly competitive market.”
There’s a lot to break down there. First and foremost, it should be noted that EA is infamous for how it handles its live-service elements, especially in its sports games, where the company has been dubbed downright predatory. That doesn’t even touch upon certain other games that were straight-up “Pay-2-Win” and even got the US government involved to try and stop such practices.
Second, Dragon Age The Veilguard was actually meant to be a live-service game at first, which no one asked for, and then Bioware was able to change it back into a true narrative title, for which many were grateful. It also should be noted that even if it DID have live-service elements, there’s no guarantee it would’ve done better. For all Wilson knows, it would’ve done far worse, potentially due to the tiredness gamers have over microtransactions.
The key thing here is that the RPG didn’t resonate with fans because it didn’t have many elements that were standard in past games, it was 10 years since the last entry, and other elements led to its overall failure. No amount of live-service would’ve overcome all that.
