Bioware’s future depends on Dragon Age

The current climate in the video game industry is likely the most volatile in history. We’ve seen record-breaking numbers of layoffs and studio closures in the past two years, and both the cost and time required to make a AAA game have ballooned to the point where even games that sell millions of units are considered a failure. That’s not even touching on the games that fail to find even that level of success, with Concord being an extreme example . Few studios can afford even a single misfire, and as we approach All Hallows’ Eve, it’s BioWare’s fate that hangs in the balance.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is technically the fourth entry in the Dragon Age series BioWare began in 2009. It is essentially the fantasy counterpoint to its Mass Effect series, swapping out Asari and laser rifles for elves and magic. The previous game, Inquisition, came out in 2014, meaning that it’s a sequel some have been waiting on for a full decade now, but the weight on this game’s shoulders isn’t limited to inflated fan expectations. This one game may very well determine whether the BioWare we know and love makes a proud comeback, or is added to the list of studio casualties.

BioWare needs to find its way again

Its last two games lacked what made the studio special

From the beginning, BioWare has been renowned for being one of the best western RPG developers in the industry. It was responsible for the original Baldur’s Gate and its sequel, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. After proving itself on those known IPs, it set out to create its own worlds with Mass Effect and Dragon Age, but carried with it the choice-driven, deep narrative structure that earned it so much acclaim. Mechanically, BioWare wasn’t winning any awards for smooth gameplay or the most intuitive controls — it was the writing, characters, and feeling of being in control of your own story that drew players in.

Over the course of both these trilogies, BioWare underwent some big changes. As the games got more popular, they simultaneously attempted to make them more broadly appealing. RPG systems were dialed down, combat was streamlined and polished up, and the veil of player choice started to fray at the edges. By the time we got Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, people started to wonder if BioWare was losing its identity.

Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem were about as much proof as anyone needed that the BioWare of old was dead and gone, if not lost to the whims of AAA development. There’s no need to retread the specifics of why these two games dealt such a crushing blow to the studio’s reputation, only to say that it was lucky to have put those games out then rather than now. A one-two punch of flops like that would be too much for any studio to withstand today. Of course, that damage to its reputation — and wallet — hasn’t been erased. It only raised the stakes of The Veilguard to greater heights.

BioWare needs to remember its strengths and stop trying to be something it isn’t. Combat should be serviceable, but not at the expense of storytelling, branching decisions with true consequences, and characters and a world the player wants to be invested in.

From Dreadwolf to Veilguard

A live-service repackaged into a single-player RPG

The development of Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been anything but usual. Before it was even named, reports and leaks were coming out that the series had been forced into the live-service model. While there weren’t any specifics on what that meant exactly, it was later revealed that Anthem’s failure convinced EA to allow BioWare to strip all these elements from the game and create a more traditional single-player RPG as of 2021.

Three years isn’t a small amount of time, but I worry it still isn’t enough to completely overhaul a game that was built on the framework of supporting a multiplayer, ongoing experience. The footage shown is promising thus far, but you always need to take curated trailers and gameplay from developers with a grain of salt; you’re seeing only what they want you to see.

I don’t want The Veilguard to fail. I miss the magic of those classic BioWare games, but even at its best, I’m not sure Veilguard will recapture it. I don’t believe BioWare has it in it to make something like Baldur’s Gate 3, and we shouldn’t expect that from this game, either. If it can manage to find some middle-ground of role playing depth to win back its old fans, as well as be a fun game to play moment-to-moment for newcomers, it could be the beginning of a new era for the studio. The only problem is that it’s far easier said than done.