Summary
Dragon Age: The Veilguardwas unfortunately not the game that fans of the series were hoping it would be. It alsowasn’t the financial success that EA wanted it to be. While there were many issues with the game, likeboring romances,drab writing, andpointless choices, EA CEO Andrew Wilsonfelt it would have been more successful as a live-service game.
“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.
More Ex-Dragon Age Devs Disagree With EA CEO’s The Veilguard Live Service Remarks
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, withformer writer David Gaider also sharing his thoughtson 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.
