Dragon Age Not Dead, Says Former BioWare Dev: 'It's Yours Now'

Following recent layoffs at BioWare, which led to the departure of many key developers behind Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a former writer on the series, Sheryl Chee, has taken to social media to reassure fans. Amid concerns that the franchise might be nearing its end, Chee's message was clear: "DA isn't dead because it's yours now."

This week, EA announced a restructuring at BioWare, shifting its focus exclusively to Mass Effect 5. As a result, some developers from Dragon Age: The Veilguard were reassigned to other EA projects. For instance, John Epler, the creative director of Veilguard, was moved to Full Circle to work on their upcoming skateboarding game, Skate. However, several team members were laid off and are now in search of new opportunities.

The decision came after EA revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had not met the company's expectations, engaging only 1.5 million players during the recent financial quarter—a figure significantly lower than projected by nearly 50%. It remains unclear whether this number represents unit sales, as the game was also available through EA's Play Pro subscription service. Additionally, there is ambiguity about whether the free trial offered through the more affordable EA Play subscription is included in this count.

The combination of EA's announcement, the restructuring of BioWare, and the layoffs has fueled fears among the Dragon Age community that the series may be on its last legs. Notably, there are no plans for additional DLC for The Veilguard, and BioWare concluded its work on the game with its final major update last week.

Despite these setbacks, Sheryl Chee, who has transitioned to working on Iron Man at Motive, shared a message of hope on social media. Reflecting on the challenges faced over the past two years, Chee remained optimistic: "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."

In response to a fan expressing concern over the future of Dragon Age, Chee emphasized the enduring spirit of the 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's sentiments were further reinforced when a fan announced plans to create an alternate universe (AU) inspired by Dragon Age: "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, which began with Dragon Age: Origins in 2010, followed by Dragon Age 2 in 2011 and Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014, experienced a significant gap before the release of the latest installment, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which took a decade to come to fruition. Former executive producer Mark Darrah, who left BioWare in 2020, revealed that Dragon Age: Inquisition had sold over 12 million copies, far exceeding EA's internal projections.

While EA has not officially declared the end of Dragon Age, the future of the series remains uncertain, particularly with BioWare's full focus now on Mass Effect 5. EA has confirmed that a "core team" at BioWare, led by veterans from the original Mass Effect trilogy including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley, is currently developing the next Mass Effect game. According to EA, the team is appropriately sized for the current stage of the project, though specific numbers have not been disclosed.