Just three months have passed since BioWare finally saw the long-awaited release of its new RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a launch that reportedly wasn’t as successful as publisher EA initially hoped it would be – but series veteran David Gaider has some advice for the company.
Speaking in a recent thread online, the original lead writer and creator of the beloved Dragon Age setting begins by addressing EA’s quarterly earnings call in which the publisher insisted that The Veilguard “did not resonate with a broad enough audience” to hit sales expectations. Gaider explores the notion that the RPG would’ve performed better had it been a live service game, as executives “who don’t don’t actually know much about games” might think.
“If I really dig into my empathy, I can kinda see the thinking here,” he writes. “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!’ Your natural response? ‘We should make more action games, and all our games should have live service!’ Cha-ching, right?”
Gaider continues: “Then some uppity devs spoil your buzz by saying ‘that doesn’t apply equally to all games’ or ‘we have an established IP with an audience that has certain expectations.’ You frown. You go look at their sales. Good, sure, but not as spectacular as live service and action games! Profit’s great, but what’s the point if you’re not #1 in the charts? If you’re not making headlines? If the devs can’t make it work, this is THEIR failure.”
He goes on, looking at the hypothetical situation through the lens of a AAA publisher eyeing up “the future of gaming,” who he suggests will eventually “ask yourself why we (the company) even bother with those other games. Like single-player games. It’s a question you’ve asked aloud before. The fans bristle, but you’re not here to supply every audience what they want. You’re here to make money and increase share value.”
The writer admits he might sound “unkind” but says there are lessons publishers like EA can learn from big releases like The Veilguard. Although he adds he’s yet to play it himself, he suggests: “‘Maybe it should have been live service’ being the takeaway seems a bit short-sighted and self-serving.”
Although he suggests that the company won’t “care,” Gaider concludes with some direct advice to EA. “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.”
What better example to use then than Baldur’s Gate 3 and its own developers, who were recently outspoken about the reported layoffs across BioWare, and Gaider does just that. “Follow Larian’s lead and double down on that,” he concludes in his unofficial message to EA at the end of the thread. “The audience is still there. And waiting.”