EA Says ‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ Failed Because Of No ‘Shared-World’ Features – Forbes
Dragon Age: The VeilguardI have heard some poor corporate analysis in my time, but this one has to be an all-timer. In the wake of Dragon Age: The Veilguard failing to meet EA goals with only half of the players it wanted, EA CEO Andrew Wilson is reflecting on why that happened. And his explanation is truly bizarre.Speaking on an investor call, Wilson said:“In order to break out beyond the core audience, 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,” Wilson said.“Dragon Age had a high-quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played. However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market.”Dragon Age: The VeilguardYes, you heard that correctly, the idea is that Dragon Age failed because it was not some sort of shared, multiplayer world which didn’t lead to “deeper engagement.” Presumably at least part of this idea spawned from the report that Veilguard was originally going to have live service aspects, as mandated by EA, but that was abandoned. You can still feel that in places in the game that feel disjointed.I don’t think anyone, anyone in the actual real world gaming community would agree with this sentiment. Whether that’s Dragon Age fans who didn’t like tone or aesthetic changes, new players who were lost or uninterested with the last game being a decade ago, or even culture war obsessives citing “woke” issues with the game. None of those groups would agree that it failed because it wasn’t a live service. What an absolutely ridiculous notion.You can easily line up examples of how this just is not true. Baldur’s Gate 3, GOTY of 2023 and one of the best RPGs ever, had a bit of co-op as an option, but was not anything remotely like a “shared world” or live service. Metafor: ReFantazio, Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, the upcoming Avowed. None of those have multiplayer content or anything resembling what Andrew Wilson is talking about here.HogwartsThis reminds me of the even more jaw-dropping statement from Warner Bros last year. which said they were pushing ahead with even more live service games in the wake of the entirely single-player Hogwarts Legacy moving 20 million copies as the best-selling game of the year, and the complete and utter failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, in part because it was designed to be a live service. They started musing about making a Harry Potter live service after that. Just…why.The problem that everyone keeps ignoring is that it is infinitely more difficult to get players to commit to a live service game than one that has 30, 50, 100 hours of gameplay, and then you can move on. If some players are into live services, it is difficulty to pry them away to new ones and you have to be a white whale to accomplish that (Marvel Rivals, most recently). Countless live service games have dashed themselves against the rocks trying to make this happen.Dragon Age: The Veilguard may have underperformed, but it would have been an utter disaster as a live service game, and this is now very concerning for the fate of Mass Effect 5, given what EA is saying here.Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:So, how can you be a power user?Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.
