It sure seems like the sun is setting on Dragon Age—with Veilguard falling short of expectations after years in development, EA seemingly learning exactly the wrong lessons, and sweeping layoffs including senior talent, I'm not holding my breath for the future. In my view, Veilguard was a semi-decent action RPG with a fumbled story, which just wasn't enough.
David Gaider, who authored the series but left Bioware in 2016 after Dragon Age: Inquisition, has revealed two truths. The first, not-so-shocking one, is that EA didn't really know what to do with Dragon Age (something you could glean from context)—the second, more shocking one is that BioWare was completely split down the middle circa 2010-2016, divided into two studios. Studios that, according to him, kinda resented each other.
In a Bluesky post, Gaider explains that after Dragon Age: Inquisition left him feeling exhausted, he "joined the new project that the former Mass Effect team in Edmonton was cooking up—the one that became Anthem … That was a mistake"—not Anthem, but rather, going from a Dragon Age to a Mass Effect team at BioWare.
The difference, Gaider explains, seems to me almost high school in nature. Like BioWare had its own coterie of nerds and jocks, Montagues and Capulets, Jets and Sharks—you get the idea. He explains that Anthem had initially been conceptualised as grungy, Aliens-esque science fiction—and that he'd been given marching orders to turn it into a science fantasy romp. This met the existing team like oil on water.
"I don't think anyone told the team this. So they thought this change was MY doing. I kept getting feedback about how it was 'too Dragon Age' and how everything I wrote or planned was 'too Dragon Age' … Yet this was a team where I was required to accept and act on all feedback, so I ended up iterating CONSTANTLY."
He says that "it became clear this was a team that didn't want to make an RPG … yet they wanted me to wave my magic writing wand and create a BioWare quality story without giving me any of the tools I'd need to actually do that."
Gaider did consider a world where he'd "stick it out and try my best, but only if there was SOMETHING waiting on the other side, where I could have more say as Creative Director. I wanted to move up. I was turned down flat, no hesitation … Even more when I was told that, while I could leave the company if I wanted to, I wouldn't have any success outside of BioWare. But in blunter words." Yikes.
If you ask me, it was always just shy of the axe since DA Origins."
Now, this is to be taken with a bit of salt. Gaider is a fantastic writer known for authoring one of gaming's best RPG worlds—but he was also severely burned by EA and BioWare, so there's some (understandable) subjectivity surrounding his words here.
However, his description here does pass muster. Namely, if writing teams were made to act on feedback no matter what, in a studio leaning towards Mass Effect and away from its gritty RPG roots? That sure explains why a group of people who have done great work on Dragon Age in the past somehow produced something I actively couldn't stand. It sure explains why Veilguard plays more like a Mass Effect game, too.
EA very much hasn't given me faith that it even understands why things didn't shake out. In the aftermath of Veilguard's lukewarm reception, CEO Andrew WIlson pretty much chalked its failure up to a lack of live service features. Which is so laughably, indescribably far from any of the criticisms I had for Veilguard that it's not even funny. If executives just listened to the people who are responsible for their successes… well, we'd live in a very different world, I suppose. Maybe Larian was right, and we should adopt the pirate model after all.
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