Dragon Age: The Veilguard

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Dragon Age: The Veilguard
The logo with text stating "Dragon Age" is in a metallic purple silver color with a smaller subtitle text "The Veilguard" under it with coloration. The text is on a black background.
Developer(s)BioWare
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
SeriesDragon Age
EngineFrostbite
Platform(s)
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an upcoming role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The fourth major game in the Dragon Age franchise, The Veilguard will be the sequel to Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014). The game is expected to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

The game's development, which began in 2015, has been marked by lengthy delays, several fundamental changes in design, and high staff turnover. A release date has not yet been announced.[1][2] The game was announced as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in 2022[3][4] and retitled to Dragon Age: The Veilguard in June 2024.[5][6]

Development

The development of the fourth main entry in the Dragon Age series, code-named "Joplin", began in 2015 with Mike Laidlaw as its creative director. It was intended to be a smaller, more narrative-focused game set in the Tevinter Imperium region of the game's world setting, Thedas.[7]

Problems with the development of BioWare's other games Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem led to repeated interruptions as "Joplin" staff was shifted to these games. This included putting "Joplin" on hold in late 2016 with development resuming in March 2017 after Andromeda shipped.[7][8] In October 2017, BioWare and its parent company Electronic Arts cancelled "Joplin" altogether, reportedly because it had no room for a "live service" component to provide ongoing monetization opportunities.[7][8]

Development of the game was restarted under the code-name "Morrison" in 2018, this time with a live-service component and based on Anthem's code.[7][9] According to Bloomberg News, after the success of the single-player game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the decision to cancel the reworking of the massively multiplayer online Anthem in February 2021 following its lackluster launch, EA and BioWare decided to remove the planned multiplayer components from "Morrison" and to develop it as a single-player game only.[10] Alpha-stage footage leaked in February 2023 indicated that the game would use real-time action combat gameplay, influenced by God of War, unlike previous Dragon Age games.[11][12][13] Kotaku opined "it's true that Dragon Age's most dedicated fans aren't here for the gameplay—but they still deserve a gaming experience that doesn't feel like it was grafted from a completely different genre."[11]

Staff turnover

The project has been marked by a high turnover of leading staff. Several veteran Dragon Age staff, including Laidlaw, left the company in response to Joplin's cancellation in 2017.[7] After the 2018 restart, Mark Darrah remained as an executive producer, while Matthew Goldman took over the position of creative director for the project from 2017 to 2021.[14] By December 3, 2020, Darrah had resigned from BioWare, replaced by BioWare Austin studio head Christian Dailey as executive producer.[15] Goldman left BioWare by November 2021,[9] and was replaced as Creative Director by John Epler.[16] Dailey left BioWare in February 2022.[17] Corinne Busche became game director thereafter, Benoit Houle director of product development, and Mac Walters production director.[17] Walters in turn left BioWare in January 2023.[18] In March 2023, Darrah returned as a consultant for the game and the Mass Effect team joined the production of Veilguard, according to EA.[19][20]

In August 2023, BioWare fired 50 people working on Veilguard and the next Mass Effect game;[21] this included Mary Kirby who was one of the series' original writers and credited with "creating Varric and the Qunari".[22] PC Gamer commented "that's not to say there are no veterans of the good old days left, but you're looking at a very different group of people than the one that made the studio's greatest hits".[22] In October, seven of them sued BioWare for additional compensation, complaining that BioWare's NDAs prevented them from adding their work on Veilguard to their portfolio.[23]

Marketing

The image has blue and purple tones with the logo on the center of a circle. The text "Dragon Age" is in larger metallic silver with the subtitle text "Dreadwolf" under it in glowing purple.
The original logo when the game was titled Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.

Dragon Age 4 was announced at The Game Awards in December 2018. Promotional material showed red lyrium (a corrupted power source of magic in the game's universe) and the character Solas – the Dread Wolf – as significant elements of the game's plot.[24] Marketing on social media was focused on the tagline "The Dread Wolf Rises".[25][26][27]

In August 2020, a concept art video was released at Gamescom.[28][29][30] In December 2020, a teaser trailer featured the dwarven character Varric Tethras as narrator, as well as Solas.[31][32][33] No details on the game were released at the July 2021 EA Play event.[34][35] Jeffrey Grubb, for VentureBeat, commented that "holding back during this EA Play is just about enabling the publisher to get the game into position to begin marketing it in earnest. That will likely start in 2022".[34] Ash Parrish, for Kotaku, highlighted that given all the changes in development "Dragon Age 4 is probably not yet ready to be shown to the world" and that "BioWare has been drip-feeding fans information for years now".[35] Grubb, in a follow-up article for VentureBeat in January 2022, stated that "EA hasn't decided on when to begin marketing the project".[36][37]

In June 2022, the game's title was announced as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.[38][3] Parrish, now for The Verge, highlighted that the title reveal for the game was "exciting for a lot of fans" because it not only makes Solas the antagonist of the upcoming game but also makes Dreadwolf a direct sequel unlike previous installments in the franchise.[4] A teaser trailer released in December 2023 featured new locations: Antiva, Rivain, and the Anderfels.[39]

In June 2024, the game was retitled Dragon Age: The Veilguard. BioWare explained that the titular Dread Wolf remains part of the game, however, the updated title is a stronger reflection of the game's focus.[5][40][41][42][43] BioWare general manager Gary McKay stated that the retitling was not due focus testing:

We actually think sticking with Dreadwolf would have been the safer choice – 'Dread Wolf' is a cool name after all! In the end, it was most important for us to have a title that was authentic to the companions that are the heart of this adventure we've created. We've worked throughout development to create really incredible backstories for each companion that intersect with the main narrative in meaningful ways.[5]

On the title change, Ed Smith of PCGamesN commented that he liked "the sound of the new Dragon Age, and its focus on a cast of characters and their connections, so a name that reflects that conceit feels right".[44] In contrast, Andy Chalk of PC Gamer and Kenneth Shepard of Kotaku disliked the name change.[45][46] Chalk felt Veilguard "doesn't convey anything in the way Dreadwolf does" – "I see the word 'Dreadwolf' and I instinctively know that some bad shit is happening".[45] Shepard stated, "I understand the naming convention lines up with Dragon Age: Inquisition, which also was named after the team you were assembling, but Dreadwolf was a striking title that I will dearly miss. [...] I hope what BioWare is saying about Solas remaining a fixture is true even as the name changes".[46]

References

  1. ^ Williams, Leah J. Dragon Age: Dreadwolf allegedly hit with internal delays Archived September 17, 2023, at the Wayback Machine. GamesHub. Retrieved on 18 Sept. 2023
  2. ^ Williams, Leah J. BioWare lays off 50 employees in mass studio overhaul Archived September 17, 2023, at the Wayback Machine. GamesHub. Retrieved on 18 Sept. 2023
  3. ^ a b Kim, Matt (June 2, 2022). "Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Title and Logo Officially Revealed". IGN. Archived from the original on June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Parrish, Ash (June 2, 2022). "BioWare reveals official title of Dragon Age 4". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Bailey, Kat (June 6, 2024). "Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Is Officially Being Renamed, With Gameplay Reveal Set for June 11 - EXCLUSIVE". IGN. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
  6. ^ "Dragon Age: Dreadwolf". GameRant. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e Schreier, Jason (April 9, 2019). "The Past And Present Of Dragon Age 4". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Stevens, Colin (April 9, 2019). "Dragon Age 4 Is Reportedly Influenced by a Canceled Dragon Age Project". IGN. Archived from the original on June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
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  10. ^ Schreier, Jason (February 25, 2021). "Electronic Arts Removes Multiplayer Mode From Dragon Age Game in Big Pivot". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on June 8, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
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  31. ^ Favis, Elise; Park, Gene; Klimentov, Mikhail (December 10, 2020). "'The Last of Us Part II' wins game of the year at The Game Awards, alongside new 'Mass Effect' and 'Among Us' reveals". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
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  40. ^ Webster, Andrew (June 6, 2024). "The next Dragon Age is now called The Veilguard". The Verge. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
  41. ^ McWhertor, Michael (June 6, 2024). "BioWare renames Dragon Age: Dreadwolf to focus on its heroes, not its villain". Polygon. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
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