In the wake of significant layoffs at BioWare, which led to the departure of many key developers behind Dragon Age: The Veilguard, former series writer Sheryl Chee has stepped forward to offer reassurance to fans. "DA isn't dead because it's yours now," Chee stated, emphasizing the enduring legacy of the franchise through its community's creativity and passion.
This week, EA announced a restructuring at BioWare, shifting its focus exclusively to Mass Effect 5. As a result, some developers who worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard have been reassigned to other EA projects. For instance, John Epler, the creative director of Veilguard, has been moved to work on Full Circle's upcoming skateboarding game, Skate. However, others have faced layoffs and are now in search of new opportunities.
The decision to restructure came after EA revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had fallen short of expectations, engaging only 1.5 million players during its recent financial quarter—a figure that was nearly 50% below projections. It's important to note that EA did not specify whether these numbers represented unit sales, as the game was also available through the EA Play Pro subscription service. Additionally, it's unclear if the free trial offered via the EA Play subscription contributed to this total.
The combination of EA's announcement, the restructuring at BioWare, and the layoffs has led many in the Dragon Age community to fear that the series is on its last legs. There are no plans for DLC for The Veilguard, and BioWare's work on the game concluded last week with what appears to be its final major update.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the franchise's future, Sheryl Chee, who transitioned from BioWare to work on Iron Man at Motive, took to social media to share a message of hope. "I'm now with Motive. It's been a hard two years seeing my team get chipped away and having to still keep going. But I'm still employed, so there's that," she wrote. In response to a fan's concerns about the series' demise, Chee highlighted the enduring spirit of the Dragon Age community.
"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 emphasized.
She further encouraged fans to continue creating, saying, "So someone just reposted my thing saying they'll write a giant AU and that's what I'm talking about. 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. Former Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah, who left BioWare in 2020, revealed that Dragon Age: Inquisition had sold over 12 million copies, significantly surpassing EA's internal projections.
Although EA has not officially declared the end of Dragon Age, the current focus on Mass Effect 5 and the restructuring of BioWare make a new Dragon Age game seem unlikely in the near future. EA has confirmed that a "core team" at BioWare, led by veterans from the original Mass Effect trilogy, is now working on the next Mass Effect game. "While we're not sharing numbers, the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development," EA told IGN.
