Gamers have repeatedly seen franchises that “could do no wrong” suddenly go in a terrible direction and then become something they don’t even recognize. We’re not even singling out one developer or publisher here, as this has happened across almost every long-lasting franchise you can think of, regardless of whether it was made by Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, Ubisoft, or anything in between. When it came to Bioware, they were once one of the most beloved developers out there until numerous mistakes and setbacks showed their own mortality. Dragon Age The Veilguard is the latest game from the developer, and while it’s finally out, it was anything but easy to get it out.
There have been numerous reports about the struggles that Dragon Age The Veilguard had to get to this point, and a new report from Bloomberg highlights this to stunning effect. For example, it confirms that Electronic Arts tried to turn the franchise from a single-player narrative title to a live-service model, one that could rake in microtransaction money. This was bad news at the time because Bioware had just done its biggest flop ever with Anthem, and gamers wanted no part of it:
“Some employees jeeringly referred to the next Dragon Ageas “Anthem with dragons,” which worried fans. Enthusiasts of the series wanted another single-player game, not a repeat of BioWare’s biggest mistake.”
Thankfully, both Bioware and EA saw reason, and things shifted by to the single-player space. However, even then, things took a long time to come together, and more shifts came about, including changing the name of the game and the title’s focus. However, other elements of the game’s development went smoother than ever before, which led to a playable build being finished faster than ever, and EA gave them internal support for testing due to certain restructuring efforts.
However, with certain “out of their control” elements like the pandemic, more changes had to happen within the title, including how it was built, and the game’s scope. That doesn’t even mention the layoffs that Bioware had last year which forced the team to “focus” even more if they wanted to get it done.
The success of the new RPG is still up in the air. It got mostly positive reviews on Metacritic, though there are many who still feel it’s not what came before with the past three entries. If it does sell well, then Bioware will have a long-needed victory. If not? It might be time to go back to the drawing board.
