Summary
- EA CEO Andrew Wilson feels Dragon Age: The Veilguard would have performed better financially as a live-service game.
- More former Dragon Age devs have disagreed with Wilson’s thoughts.
- Did he really forget Anthem?
Dragon Age: The Veilguard was unfortunately not the game that fans of the series were hoping it would be. It also wasn’t the financial success that EA wanted it to be. While there were many issues with the game, like boring romances, drab writing, and pointless choices, EA CEO Andrew Wilson felt it would have been more successful as a live-service game.
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“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,” said Wilson during a recent investor call. It seems even former Dragon Age developers disagree with him.
Former Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw wasn’t subtle about his opposing point of view. “Look, I’m not a fancy CEO guy,” said Laidlaw on Bluesky, “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 is the second ex-Dragon Age dev to speak out against Wilson’s comments, with former writer David Gaider also sharing his thoughts on it.
“There are certainly all sorts of lessons a company could learn from a game like Veilguard (I still haven’t played it, so I’m going off what other people have said), but ‘maybe it should have been live service’ being the takeaway seems a bit short-sighted and self-serving,” he said. “Not that there’s any shortage of that, when it comes to deciding why a game doesn’t do well.”
Considering the expectations that EA placed upon the Dragon Age franchise, it’s not surprising that The Veilguard did not meet financial expectations. “Periodically, EA pushes for franchises to be bigger. They want billion-dollar franchises, or they only want to make the six best games, or the twelve best games,” said former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah.
- Released
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October 31, 2024
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence