EA boss reckons with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare is finally returning to “BioWare-type games” after the failure of Anthem
The new RPG marks a restoration of “what made BioWare great”
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As reviews forDragon Age: The Veilguardpour in and praise the RPG asa return to form for BioWare,Electronic ArtsCEO Andrew Wilson describes the new game similarly himself - as a title that marks its developer’s return to the things that made it “great.”
Speaking at EA’s most recent earnings call, Wilson begins with a “look back overBioWare” and the beloved studio’s arguably less successful releases, likeAnthem. “Anthem is probably the one that people remember most for not really living up to the expectations of what aBioWaregame should be,” he explains. Anthem was also, however, “BioWare trying to do something very, very different than what would typically be known as a BioWare game.”
The 2019 shooter “was really about building different mechanics and different modalities that play into a BioWare world,” as Wilson describes it. Despite the game receiving praise for some of its features, though, the studio’s step away from its more familiar formula simply didn’t work as well as developers had expected: “The pieces of the puzzle just didn’t quite come together in the way that I think BioWare had hoped.”
Ever since Anthem, Wilson says “a big shift happened after that, which was BioWare really returning to BioWare-type games - really returning to BioWare strength.” The newDragon Ageentry stands as an example of this return and of how “the BioWare team has really rallied around what made BioWare a fan-favorite studio and a fan-favorite brand” in the first place - and everything that ensured past BioWare games were so well-received, too.
The “incredibly rich worlds, incredibly nuanced characters, really powerful and compelling stories with comradery and friendship and relationships, and decisions that matter in the context of gameplay” - Wilson states that’s all a part of the “return to what made Bioware great” innew gameslike the upcoming Dragon Age. Our ownThe Veilguard reviewhighlights such elements, too, dubbing the RPG “a true return to RPG form for BioWare.”
EA says Dragon Age: The Veilguard has “breakout capabilities” due to “incredibly strong” reviews and “limited competition” in the AAA space
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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she’s not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she’s probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she’s spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur’s Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you’ll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.
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