Tidigare BioWare-producent hävdar att EA inte lät dem avslöja potentialen i Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veilguard, released in 2024, was the final game from BioWare—a studio that officially shut down this week. Despite a generally warm reception from critics, players drowned the game in negative comments and reviews, noting that much of the RPG elements were gone and, especially, criticizing the game for imposing a modern agenda. As a result, Dragon Age: The Veilguard also flopped financially, leaving behind a mixed legacy as a game series.

Since Electronic Arts officially shut down BioWare this week, many of the studio’s projects—including The Veilguard—are now the subject of lively discussion on social media, and former developers are also weighing in. For example, former BioWare producer Mark Darrah released a new video on his YouTube channel, where he shared details about the game’s development. According to Darrah, the development of The Veilguard was heavily influenced by Anthem, as several developers were reassigned to that project, and the new Dragon Age installment itself changed direction multiple times. He also recalls that COVID-19 significantly impacted the game’s release timeline, and because EA frequently interfered with production details, the company prevented the studio from fully realizing the potential of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Asmongold, a YouTuber, spoke out specifically regarding Dragon Age: The Veilguard. He criticized journalists who deliberately gave the game high ratings while turning a blind eye to its obvious flaws, and he also criticized BioWare’s leadership for deciding to make the game based on their political and social views—which he claimed was the main reason Dragon Age: The Veilguard flopped so badly. For his part, in one of his earlier videos, Mark Darrah stated EA could still sell the rights to Dragon Age and Mass Effect to other companies—and that we’ll have to wait a little longer to see how likely that is.

As for the canceled Mass Effect 5, which was titled Universe, some details about the game have already surfaced. Specifically, the game’s events took place approximately 600 years after the original trilogy, and the plot centered on a galactic cold war. According to the game's technical director, Romain Toutain, Universe featured the ability to create alternative timelines that would be influenced by all the decisions made in the Mass Effect trilogy.

A hashtag to rescue the franchise—#SaveMassEffect—has also been launched on social media, and a related petition has even been launched. It has become hugely popular and has already gathered more than 170,000 signatures in just a few days.