Where were you on Dragon Age Day? Were you sitting at home, enjoying Dragon Age: Inquisition or Dragon Age 2? Were you embroiled, unlike those sickos, in the masterpiece that is Dragon Age: Origins? Did you celebrate the franchise, whether it was at its peak or at the level of “great, but could’ve been better?”
Well, don’t worry if you didn’t, because Dragon Age Day – December 4th, for those keeping track – came and went without so much as a muster from BioWare. Why? You can thank a little game called Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Ah, The Veilguard. Years and years in development across different iterations – starting as a heist-focused title with branching decisions and where player choice factored heavily into the plot, before reportedly turning into a live-service game to follow in Anthem’s disastrous footsteps. When Anthem failed to deliver, someone at Electronic Arts finally asked, “Why is our single-player RPG studio making terrible live service games?” it shifted back to single-player, but still allegedly retained several of the same elements.
This meant a more constrained plot and a narrative that had nothing to do with the previous greats, peddling an action RPG gameplay loop bereft of much tactical thinking. That Veilguard.
More than a year ago, I remember sitting down and reviewing the title. It didn’t offend me too greatly – maybe because of a cold at the time – but not for lack of trying. The characters, the combat, the exploration, the decisions, the dialogue – all of it left me wondering if this was it. Was this really what so many others were praising before launch? We can forget whether it’s what the fans wanted, hindsight being 20/20 and whatnot.
What really cemented that Electronic Arts and BioWare were done with the franchise as a whole, at least for the time being, is creative director Jon Epler revealing – not even a week, but two days later – that there wouldn’t be DLC. Instead, the studio would focus all resources on the next Mass Effect. Confounded by The Veilguard’s ending and wondering where the story could go next? You can keep wondering, probably into the 22nd century, because no answers are coming anytime soon.
The team did release a few patches for the game, but not to add any new content. Bug fixes and little touches – Harding has arrows in her quiver now, hurray – abound alongside a new appearance for Rook that resembles the N7-armor clad protagonist in the next Mass Effect. What crackling fixes did Patch 2 bring? Well, two, but at least one of them reduced the likelihood of crashes during shader compilation.
By Patch 3, Photo Mode got some new filters, weapons received new icons, and you could now bind arrow keys to input mappings. Patch 4 was decidedly more ambitious, adding Hawke’s outfit from Dragon Age 2 and two new complexions for the Qunari. You could also turn off bloom, and the pause screen now has a “Take Photo” button. By Patch 5, released almost three months later, BioWare finally decided to add recommended levels to side quests, finally warning you if you’re too underleveled for a task. You know, the option that other action RPGs, from The Witcher 3 to the Horizon series, had at launch.
And then, it happened – EA decided to restructure BioWare and eliminate roles, whether moving employees to other projects or laying off those who worked on The Veilguard. Heartless, especially the latter? Sure, but considering a week prior, when it revealed how much it underperformed, reaching 1.5 million players in the past quarter, when the publisher expected twice as much, it’s somewhat understandable.
As of February 2025, BioWare reportedly consists of fewer than 100 developers. EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that one reason for the underperformance is that “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,” instead of simply catering to their “core audience.” You’ll be shocked to hear this, but former writer David Gaider later revealed that Electronic Arts never really knew what it wanted to do with the series, and that it would often prefer Mass Effect when it came to marketing and resources. The Veilguard would be added to PlayStation Plus Essential in March, as if EA was waving the white flag and not expecting any more sales.
By June, a new report by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier outlined the problems, development flip-flops, internal strife and changes that The Veilguard went through. In a way, it’s somewhat miraculous that the team, which also saw numerous departures and changes throughout its lifespan, managed to cobble together anything and ship a video game. A pyrrhic victory, though, considering that the title killed any interest in the series, both from players and the higher-ups. Oh, and by August, it debuted on Game Pass, for those who still cared.
Last month, Mass Effect executive producer Mike Gamble assured fans on N7 Day that the next game was still coming and that the team was excited by what it’s building. “When we’re ready, it’ll be a lot of fun to show,” he promised. Some hidden artwork even depicted a Krogan civil war, with Gamble further teasing that all previous reveals would someday connect. So at the very least, BioWare seems to be making some headway with Mass Effect after announcing earlier this year that it hadn’t even entered full production.
It’s just remarkable that the latest Dragon Age could launch after so long, and one year later, its own day passes without so much as a whisper. No blog post looking back on the series’ highlights and how they’re proud of what they achieved with The Veilguard, along with some acknowledgement of how it may have disappointed some. I’d be surprised if anyone was left from the original team to write it, honestly, but again, you can’t really blame BioWare for pretending the series doesn’t exist. For all we know, it may be at the behest of Electronic Arts, which wants to pretend the disaster never happened, much less entertain any sentiment of a future.
And it’s a shame because at one point, Dragon Age: Origins earned the highest praise possible for an RPG series. Fast forward about 15 years to the launch of The Veilguard, and what’s left isn’t a shadow of everything that made the first game so unique, interesting and beloved. It may as well have been a different game entirely – the way it treated iconic characters like Morrigan, Varric, Dorian, Isabela and even The Inquisitor certainly saw to that.
Despite its issues, The Veilguard taught us a lot. It showed just how much publisher meddling can result in a series’ downfall. It proved once again that the live-service push by many companies is equally as dangerous. But perhaps most importantly, it taught us that a cohesive vision for a project, one where everyone from the engine team to the artists and writers, is what ultimately makes for great games. Maybe it wouldn’t have sold as well, much less matched Inquisition’s 12 million-plus units sold, but it certainly would have left fans with something more than…this.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
