Electronic Arts announce release window for new DRAGON AGE game

Electronic Arts and subsidiary BioWare have announced the release date for the latest Dragon Age fantasy RPG. The video game, recently retitled Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is due for release in autumn this year. They have also released a gameplay trailer.

The Veilguard is the fourth full game in the series, following on from Dragon Age: Origins (2009), Dragon Age II (2011) and Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) (though some count Dragon Age: Origins' massive 2010 expansion, Awakening, as an additional full game in the series as well since it is about as large as Dragon Age II). The series is set on the continent of Thedas and chronicles the battling of the player character and various allies against a series of large-scale threats to the continent and the world. Each game in the series has its own antagonists and cast of characters, with relatively light continuity connections between games, although a few characters do appear in multiple titles.

The series so far has acted as something of a travelogue of the continent, with Origins and Awakening set in the kingdom of Ferelden in the south-east; Dragon Age II in the Free March of Kirkwall in the central-eastern region; and Dragon Age: Inquisition in the Empire of Orlais in the centre of the continent. The Veilguard takes place in the Tevinter Imperium, a huge, mage-controlled empire in the central-north region. The game specifically opens in the capital city of Minrathous. The plot follows a new adventurer - yourself - joining forces with a band of seven fellow heroes to save the world from the Dread Wolf, a fallen elven god who banished his fellows and plans to now restore them, despite the fact this will tear open the Veil and release thousands of powerful demons into the world.

The game feels like a bit of a make or break moment for BioWare. The once-lauded RPG powerhouse was famed for its long run of hit games: Baldur's Gate (1998), Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000), Neverwinter Nights (2002), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003), Jade Empire (2005), Mass Effect (2007), Dragon Age: Origins (2009), Mass Effect 2 (2010) and, despite an iffy ending, Mass Effect 3 (2012).

However, the wheels seemed to fall off after BioWare was purchased by Electronic Arts (during the development of Dragon Age: Origins). They mandated a quickie Dragon Age sequel, resulting in the controversial Dragon Age II (2011), and both a move to cash in on the open world craze and using the Frostbite Engine, which was not well-suited for open world environments. Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) had a mixed reception, with praise for its story and DLC, but criticisms of its vast amount of filler content; Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017) had a similarly mixed reception and disappointing sales. Anthem (2019) was a move to a multiplayer-focused, online style of game which was a bizarre choice for a developer known for deep, single-player roleplaying games. The game was heavily criticised and died almost immediately.

Although Dragon Age II and Inquisition both sold well, Andromeda and Anthem were both flops. This means that BioWare is betting the farm on The Veilguard and a forthcoming new Mass Effect game; if these both do badly, then BioWare's future may be in doubt. More ironic is that the Dragon Age franchise has moved away from the deep, party-based tactical combat of the original game to more of an action game, but Larian's Baldur's Gate III - a sequel to BioWare's own series - sold over 20 million copies by leaning very hard on party-based, tactical combat and even being turn-based.

Whether The Veilguard can stop the rot and rescue BioWare remains to be seen. The game will launch later this year.

DRAGON AGE IV pivots to being a single-player focused game

In welcome news, BioWare has been allowed to remove all multiplayer content from its in-development CRPG, Dragon Age IV, to focus on the single-player story. Previously the game had a strong multiplayer component, with some reports that the game was going to focus hard on the multiplayer aspects at the expense of single-player content.

The move reportedly came due to long-running complaints and grumbling from BioWare staff about having multiplayer features shoehorned into their games, which traditionally have been single-player, story-focused titles. This focus had resulted in their 2019 game Anthem being multiplayer only, but the failure of that project - BioWare announced yesterday that all further development on the game was being halted - seems to have caused a rethink at publisher-owner Electronic Arts.

Additional impetus for the move came when single-player action game Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order (2019) sold 10 million copies in its first four months on sale, smashing EA's expectations for a single-player-only game. The performance of other single-player focused games from other companies has also likely helped: Cyberpunk 2077 shifted 13 million copies in its first month on sale in December, despite numerous technical problems, whilst The Last of Us, Part II shifted four million copies in its first week last year, with Final Fantasy VII Remake apparently selling only marginally less (both feats being more impressive as those were PlayStation-exclusive titles).

The previous game in the series, Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014), launched with a multiplayer mode that was a fairly minor part of the game. Electronic Arts had mandated an expansion of this in the successor game, although apparently the massive sales success of the single-player-focused The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (which has now sold over 30 million copies) a few months later did cause something of a rethink. After design ideas bounced back and forth for a while, it was decided to refocus the game on the multiplayer aspect and the ability to monetise the game. This decision led to long-term creative director Mike Laidlaw to quit the company altogether. Development of Dragon Age IV has stalled repeatedly as the team were drafted in to help both Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017) and Anthem across their finish lines.

It sounds like BioWare have won the battle to return to what they are best at, single-player, story-focused roleplaying games. Dragon Age IV - likely not the final title - is currently in development for a reported 2022/23 launch. Mass Effect 5 is also in development.

BioWare release teaser trailer for DRAGON AGE IV and a return to the Milky Way for MASS EFFECT 5

BioWare and EA have released teaser trailers for new games in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series.

The Dragon Age IV teaser hints that the game is still set in the mage-realm of Tevinter and will focus - once again - on a new hero arising to stand against the forces of evil, backed by familiar characters like Varric. The trailer ends with the name "Dragon Age," hopefully just a placeholder and not an indication that BioWare are going to rename the game just Dragon Age to confuse people. The game has been in development for some years, although the team was co-opted to help finish both Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem. The game now appears to be in full development at BioWare, but no release timeframe has been given.

The Mass Effect trailer features as Asari walking through a snowy wasteland with a destroyer Reaper in the background, after a camera pans across wreckage and the ruins of a Mass Relay, hinting that the game will take place after the events of Mass Effect 3 rather than following up on the other-galaxy shenanigans of Mass Effect: Andromeda. This new Mass Effect game is very early in development.

The move is hoped to restore confidence in the fanbases of both games after the heads of both franchises resigned from BioWare last week.