Former BioWare Dev Reassures: 'Dragon Age Lives On Through Its Fans'

Following recent layoffs at BioWare, which led to the departure of several key developers involved with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, former series writer Sheryl Chee has reassured fans by stating, "DA isn't dead because it's yours now." This week, EA restructured BioWare to concentrate solely on Mass Effect 5. As a result, some developers from Dragon Age: The Veilguard were reassigned to projects at other EA studios. For example, John Epler, the creative director for Veilguard, was moved to work on Full Circle's upcoming skateboarding game, Skate. Meanwhile, other team members were laid off and are now seeking new opportunities.

The decision came after EA announced that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had not met its performance expectations for the highly anticipated action RPG. EA disclosed that the game engaged 1.5 million players during its recent financial quarter, a figure that fell nearly 50% short of the company's projections. It's worth noting that EA did not specify whether this number represented unit sales, as Dragon Age: The Veilguard was also accessible through EA's Play Pro subscription service. Additionally, it remains unclear if the 1.5 million figure included players who accessed a free trial through the more affordable EA Play subscription.

These announcements, combined with BioWare's restructuring and confirmation of layoffs, have led to a sense of despair among the Dragon Age community, fearing that the series might be nearing its end. No DLC is planned for The Veilguard, and BioWare concluded its work on the game last week with what appears to be its final major update.

However, Sheryl Chee, a senior writer who transitioned from BioWare to work on Iron Man at Motive, took to social media to offer words of encouragement. Chee shared her personal struggles over the past two years as her team dwindled but expressed gratitude for still being employed. Responding to a fan lamenting the potential death of Dragon Age, Chee emphasized the enduring legacy of the series.

"So a cool French woman dropped a cool quote from Camus on me today: 'In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.' (I mean, who does resistance like the French, right?) We're going through it right now. It's a lot, everywhere… But DA isn't dead. There's fic. There's art. There's the connections we made through the games and because of the games. Technically EA/BioWare owns the IP but you can't own an idea, no matter how much they want to. DA isn't dead because it's yours now."

Chee further encouraged fans by noting that someone had reposted her message with intentions to write a giant alternate universe (AU) story. She stated, "If DA has inspired you to do something, if it sparks that Invincible summer, then it's done its job, and it has been my greatest honor to have been a part of that."

The Dragon Age series began with Dragon Age: Origins in 2010, followed by Dragon Age 2 in 2011, and Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014. The latest installment, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, took a decade to release. In September, former Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah revealed that Dragon Age: Inquisition had sold over 12 million copies, significantly surpassing EA's internal projections.

While EA has not officially declared the end of the Dragon Age series, the future looks uncertain, especially with BioWare's full focus now on Mass Effect 5. EA has confirmed that a dedicated team at BioWare, led by veterans from the original Mass Effect trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley, is developing the next Mass Effect game. EA emphasized to IGN that "the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development," but did not share specific numbers.