Former Dragon Age lead developers have reacted to the suggestion by publisher EA that the series’ most recent entry would have sold better as a live-service game.
This week, EA boss Andrew Wilson said players “increasingly seek shared world features and deeper engagement”, while the company’s chief financial officer bluntly claimed that “Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperformed, icing the competitive dynamics of the single-player RPG market”.
The remarks raised eyebrows among fans, not least because Dragon Age: The Veilguard previously pivoted to being a live-service game mid-way through its development, only for EA to see sense and revert it back after BioWare’s actual live-service effort Anthem was a flop.
“Look, I’m not a fancy CEO guy,” former Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw wrote on social media, “but if someone said to me ‘the key to this successful single-player IP’s success is to make it purely a multiplayer game. No, not a spin off: fundamentally change the DNA of what people loved about the core game’ to me, I’d probably, like, quit that job or something.”
Laidlaw worked on the Dragon Age series from its creation, and was set to serve as director on what became Dragon Age: The Veilguard, up until its live-service pivot. It was at this point that Laidlaw did indeed quit BioWare, after more than 15 years, to go elsewhere.
“Just thinking out loud, of course,” Laidlaw continued. “Who’d be silly enough to demand something like that? …Twice.”
Fellow BioWare veteran David Gaider also chipped in, offering his perspective after having served as lead writer on the series up until The Veilguard.
“If I really dig into my empathy, I can kinda see the thinking here,” Gaider wrote on social media. “Like, let’s say you don’t actually know much about games. You’re in a big office with a bunch of other execs who also don’t know much about games. What are they all saying? ‘Live games do big numbers!’ ‘Action games are hot!'”
“My advice to EA (not that they care): you have an IP that a lot of people love. Deeply. At its height, it sold well enough to make you happy, right? Look at what it did best at the point where it sold the most. Follow [Baldur’s Gate 3 studio] Larian’s lead and double down on that. The audience is still there. And waiting. ❤️”
Laidlaw wound up founding his own indie studio, and has just released the single-player RPG Eternal Strands. It launched this month on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, including via Game Pass, if you fancy a new role-player that’s not a live-service now.
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