The Uncertain Future of Dragon Age: The Veilguard & BioWare Amidst Layoffs | What You Need to Know
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2024
- Back from a week of travel for work and a holiday, today we're delving into the latest update on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and the state of BioWare in 2023. There's some significant information to cover, especially in light of EA's recent decision to reduce their staff by over 6%. To be upfront, the news isn't particularly positive, stick around, as I'll be sharing my comprehensive thoughts towards the end of our discussion.
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New thought: Someone new needs to purchase BioWare from EA, someone who wants BioWare games to succeed, who believes in single player games.
That's Microsoft.
Bioware aren't that far from Bethesda in terms of development cycle length and genre.
They're already handling Elder Scrolls and Fable. That might take it off PlayStation though.
@@MerrillDragonAgeMicrosoft already has a lot of studios that work for RPGs, such as Obsidian, Bethesda... I don't think they want to buy more
@@MerrillDragonAge Of course! Thanks for reminding me of the obvious answer.
Since DA was already available on all platforms, I think Microsoft would respect that and keep it on all platforms, perhaps do discounts for GamePass access or release it just a tad later on PS.
No point, the good Bioware NO LONGER EXISTS (barely any of the staff is working for Bioware by this point in time, if any)
I’ve been saying this for years. New company that appreciates BioWare should buy them out.
I've been trying so hard to stay optimistic, even with all the news of devs leaving Bioware and restructuring, etc because I really felt like the people who were working on it really wanted to give us this game. I can feel their passion! And I really appreciated that you stayed optimistic as well, even though everyone else was being so negative. Everywhere else I turn people are just putting down Bioware constantly. But I agree, this news is making it very hard to stay optimistic. We have already been waiting for so long and it's devastating to see these people let go after all their hard work. I really want them to have the time to make a great game because the world of Dragon Age deserves it but...when it starts taking this long it's generally a bad sign. And I'm getting very, very tired. Hopefully we'll have some good news soon. Thanks for always providing us with updates and even though it's been rough I'm sticking through with you until the end!
You do know when you have to try stay optimistic instead of that being natural, then shit already past hitting the fan right?
When I first saw BG3, 3 years ago, my first thought was "that's what I wished Dragon Age was". It gave me such nostalgic feelings from playing DAO. I really wished Dread Wolf went back to its origins a little bit... yeah I love all DA games, but in different ways. Origins has always been my favorite and I wanted to feel the thrill of playing a masterpiece rpg again.
But in the end EA is the one in charge and they care about nothing money. Even if the game devs are passionate, that passion is not allowed to fully shine if the "higher ups" have other ideas
Even though BioWare said 2 more after this one I honestly think this one might be the end. They can’t make another game like Origins and it’s makes me sad because EA’s budget is all about micro transactions and Battlepass games and money, money, money first always . They are leaving BioWare to struggle with less resources and developers and I think BioWare will be going somewhere else very soon cause EA I believe is slowly pushing them out the door EA don’t care about single player RPG’s they care about Sims
None of the following games matched Origins quality level. That said I still loved DA2.
But Inquisition... the more I played it, the more flawed it seems.
@@SeventhheavenDK - DAI has its problems for sure, but DA2 was straight-up garbage.
Tbf, Bioware’s biggest fuckup that is Anthem was 100% on them not EA. EA may be corporate evil incarnate but Bioware have nobody else to blame but themselves in making their publisher think they’re not as worth investing in anymore after that. The ME remaster was a good step but Dreadwolf is make or break for this studio and the longer it takes for them to push it out without much fanfare makes demand decline all the more.
Unless they pull off another lightning in a bottle miracle like Origins, my expectations are still tempered by the current state of the studio.
@@SeventhheavenDKinquisition had a lot of good ideas, more than half of which came out half-baked. The only thing that kept me going to finish it and the expansions was the story.
I've mentally put Dragon Age: Dreadwolf on the back burner. I'm no longer extremely excited like I was. Besides the fact that I don't want to be let down anymore, it also feels tainted because of all the bad associated with it.
I hope it's good but, I just don't want to think about it right now. I'm going to focus on other games I can enjoy and put the happy energy into.
Yeah I'm the same. I was planning a big Trilogy playthrough that could have got me through to next year and end not long before release but I'll be putting that off now.
It's terrible news all-around and I do think seeing a studio like Larian pull off BG3, a former Bioware title, and at the same time watch Bioware lay people off is poetically sad.
Thank you for the update. I am feeling like I don't want to be a clown anymore. I feel awful for the people who just lost their job. If they don't start doing proper marketing and updates soon I won't expect to see the game in 2024.
I mean, they just lost 50 people, even very experienced ones. Add them to the idk 25(?)ish people that are working on pre-production for ME and you're down quite a good number of people. Add that to a general incompetence that EA and BioWare accumulated over the years and you realize that Dragon Age releasing in 2024 might stay a wet dream.
What might help are the people coming over from SWOTOR, but for many of them you would have to hold hands for a bit because they worked on an MMO with quite a unique artstyle and most of them maybe don't even know the Lore of DA.
Didn't it reach alpha last September?
@@MerrillDragonAge Yes, that's why this silence is worrying
@@MerrillDragonAge. 😂
Hearing they laid off Mary Kirby has me PISSED. Didn’t she write Varric and a bunch of other fan favorites?? That’s NOT how you treat a staff member beloved by fans and they would deserve it if she leaked a ton of spoilers online for DAD. (Not that she would-breaking NDAs can get you sued-but it’s what EA deserves)
I wonder if Dreadwolf would be successful if a remake of the first three Dragon Age games might be on the table.
It's honestly sad that besides DAI, the most successful Bioware release of the last decade is a Mass Effect remaster.
Inquisition doesn't even need a remake.
Heck, a good remaster of the first two games is more than enough, like Mass Effect Legendary Edition. But they don't even want to do that.
You will see, tlwhen the game launches (if that ever happens), most people will not even remember what is Dragon Age.
Inquisition doesn't really need a remake/remaster, but a package with Origins, Awakening and II would be lovely, because the Origins version on Steam does not run well at all. I know they probably don't have the manpower over at Bioware to do this, but they could have outsourced it years ago to release it maybe in Q2/Q3 2024, since Dreadwolf probably won't ship until 2025. Oh, well.
@@randomgamingramblings True I probably should've specified at least the first two games could be remade.
@@Billy-ot8mk I'm so desperate to replay Origins that I wouldn't even mind a crappy port like RDR got, lol. I just want it to run well on PCs or current/last gen consoles.
@randomgamingramblings I'm apart of an modding discord aiming tontemaster dragon age origins
After following DA4 news for so long, I'm worried that this game is going to end up a complete mess, that has no idea what it is or wants to be.. so many changes in design AND developers working on the game..
Dont read to long. I am ranting. Basically, everything is sad. // Tbh thats my biggest fear too. They had quite a few changes in Leads since the start, the complete remake after the Anthem debacle, then another remake from live service to sp rpc (thank the maker for that). Now again, they loose a big number of Seniors. They need someone who keeps it all on a single vision, who pulls it all together into a game that fits and works. But with those constant shifts in direction and personal I fear we will have more of a patchwork blanket than anything else. I am fully aware that the leaks were from alpha but what Ive seen back then did not convince me in any way. Sure games evolve and change, but Ive seen not much DA in those leaks, in my opinion. I still hope for the best and I still have trust that Partick Weekes and his writers (Damn, them for firing Mary Kirby) made an amazing story. But while the story is a very important part in a DA game, the other parts have to fit and work with the story. We will see I guess. Lets just say, BG3 showed me how amazing a good game can be. How amazing old BW titles were, and could still be, if done right. Anyway, I doubt now that we will see anything before the end of 2024. Release earliest in 2025. If they were in a state of showing anything a smart PR team would have used Gamescom and the RPG hype BG3 created to tease us with something. People are so thirsty for good story driven RPGs right now, they would have been all over it. The best and worst that could happen is that BG3 gives them the incentive to rethink some of the directions they went. Good, b/c it might make a better game. Bad b/c they would shift their development again which means more potential for patchwork disaster and an even longer delay. And they HAVE to release something soonish or EA will pull the plug one day. The only thing that keeps them afloat right now is the success of MELE. And while I am all for waiting so they can make a good game without crunch, we wont see DAD before the 10 year mark. That, in my opinion is way to long to keep the hype for a franchise going. We have a complete new generation of players now who were babies when DAI came out. A new generation who never played a DA or even another BW game. Why should they be hyped about No 4 in the series. And so many of the big players/youtubers from back are no longer active. Ash is still doing something on occasion, but not much. Biofan is gone, AbilityDrain is gone, gamermd83 is gone. And they were big in creating hype back then. Luckily Jackdaw is still here and feeding us. But with the lack of anything substantial he has not much to work with. I really had hype for a short term when DA:A was released, but then it was silence again. The comics are still coming but NOT A WORD about the game. I really don't get it anymore.
@@yas_lana echoed my thoughts completely. Best to keep expectations as low as can be. Tragic
No matter what, dragon age dreadwolf absolutely needs marketing. The fan base, even if every single fan, bought it on every platform, is just not enough. Its been nearly a decade. Bioware, get a move on!
It sounds like there cash cows are not preforming like they used to so the executives are firing the workers to keep there own pockets full.
fact like the top suit who don't give a damn about video game are just their own employee as escape goat cause EA start to rain down on them
As much as I’d like DA:D to be as good previous games, I think it’s going to be a mess at launch if not completely.
The changes in key staff, like writers and directors, means there’s probably going to have been changes in creative directions. EA cutting its staff in BioWare because it wants to focus on other games doesn’t help either, because DA was once profitable and EA seems to think resources are better “focused” elsewhere. It just points to something going very wrong.
Genuinely feel horrible about those who lost their jobs and absolutely hope they can find work soon. As for the game itself, I'm still holding out hope that we can start to see some form of marketing on it soon, maybe a cinematic trailer, or a gameplay trailer down the line in early to mid-2024 if we are likely to see the actual release of the game sometime in 2025. I mainly wanna see what kind of thing we're heading into since we have limited sources as to what the story could be, as well as the combat and gameplay changes, I also wanna see the new cast of characters we're gonna meet. Time and effort no matter how much there was of it was put into this title, and I'm sure it will deliver on a lot and it will be a fun experience regardless.
The thought of Dreadwolf coming out in 2025 is absolutely devastating. Not only have I been looking forward to it for a long time, but I really wanted something good to look forward to next year (esp for my mental health lol). I really need it to come out next year...otherwise next year will be incredibly boring for me and I won't have much to make me happy besides Doctor Who coming back.
Thanks to the Hollywood strike, we have no upcoming tv season no anticipated movies ( Mortal Kombat 2) and now no DAD. Oh Goodie. You would think a company famous for sports games would know not to fumble on first and goal.
I know what you mean I had a bad period of depression this year. Was off work and replaying all the dragon age games and reading the books helped me through it.
Hope you are keeping well.
@@hughcurran6817 Thank you! My depression and anxiety is over something super dumb so it's not super serious thankfully (but my mind makes it serious). I was saving replaying the series for when it was closer to the new game's release but I'm not so sure now 😅
lol how cute.
Who's your fav Doctor? (If you can choose?)
When I first played Origins I was in my 20s. Its looking like I'll be just about 40 when Dreadwolf comes out. I'm raising a family. I'll probably play it at some point but how many fans have grown tired and moved on after a *decade*?
At least we got BG3 thanks to the hard work and persistence of Larian studios and everyone involved
Exactly, that's why I laugh when some people here say that it doesn't matter how much they take as long as is good. 😂
First of all, taking a lot of time is not even a good sign at this point, especially with null updates about the game.
And second, life moves on, and people with it. Your case will be the case of many, many people.
By the time Dreadwolf comes out, most of the fan base will be already retired or very busy to play the game 😂.
@@SeventhheavenDK Yeah, 10-11 years since the last installment is not taking your time, it's development hell. It's sad. I don't find the BG3 setting all that appealing or relatable, and for the most part I find the characters annoying. I loved the DA setting and characters and was quite the fan at one time. Having babies and small children, my free time is at a premium, and I prefer to spend it on hobbies that directly benefit my family, like gardening or crochet. I play one game every 1.5 to 2 years or so. Bioware needed to retain their audience because those most invested in what happened in Trespasser will be the most likely to buy Dreadwolf day 1. It's just been so long...I hope I'm wrong and Dreadwolf is incredible and makes the studio a lot of money so they can live another day.
You brought up a good point about if the game had been released next month and how that wouldn't be good. Like you said they not only have done zero marketing in the slightest for DAD but also it would be a bad month with all the other big name games being released at this time. They need to release it on a quiet month when as much eyes and attention can be put on it from all players! It such a shame too bc I have noticed in the past couple of years there has been a big number of ppl playing the DA games for the first time and falling in love with them. How many are going to stay so die hard fans, that they continue to wait and don't just move on? Which in turn is going to hurt sales. I believe we are at a turning point with all this...if the game doesn't get released within the next year I see lots of ppl moving on, as heartbreaking as that might be...
Which means they have no faith in their own product.
This year has seen a massive wave of layoffs in the tech industry. It’s sad to see the wave also hit BioWare. Thanks for this update and keeping us all in the loop. Prayers go out to not just the game and everyone invested in it, but everyone impacted by EA’s restructuring as well.
From what I understand, the employees in question were laid off because they were apart of a union. It sucks that such awesome writers were laid off but I don’t think this will affect Dreadwolf, if the game really is in Alpha that is; the writing should be complete.
Still, this isn’t a good sign. I’m tired of holding out hope and not knowing what to expect for Dragon Age. The game should’ve been shown off by now.
The reason the game hasn't been shown is because surprise surprise. It was rebooted at least twice in development. Don't expect much when the game comes out. Bioware is long gone.
@@dew8368 I know but the current iteration is supposed to be in Alpha.
😂 The delusion.
Agreed, if the game really is in alpha and we've seen from Mark Darrahs channel he is independently working with biowate on Dreadwolf, then biowate should have started marketing the game. So why not. Why do many set backs, I mean 2025 wth, what is happening over there??
@@ShoppingAtticlast gameplay leaks showed they where making an action game not an RPG maybe Baldur's Gate 3 has something to do with it but not likely
Getting bought out by EA, worst thing to ever happen to Bioware. Almost any other publisher would have been better.
no other publisher was offering though
@@channel45853a shame crowdfunding wasn't a big thing back then they could have been independent like Larian
It’s the worst thing that happens to any studio
Honestly feel the same way. Years ago I too was hoping for 6 dragon age games. Now I just want this one more, play it, and move tf on with my hobbies. Highly likely, once I finish dreadwolf, i wont pick up any dragon age for hmm say a decade at least. Thanks Jack for the update, as absimal as it is. Good to know we are not alone in oir feeline of frustration ans exhausting at Bioware. They are suppoosed to make games, right?
I never thought I’d ever say this, but I’m not excited anymore. Just the endless miserable wait with nothing but bad news has killed it. I’m sure if it ever comes out I’ll be jumping for joy, but right now I’m just fed up with it all. I’ve been made redundant 4 times in my life so my heart goes out to the affected dev’s.
The only good news I can think of is that voice actors can do a good job for decades w/o us noticing. I hope they can bring back cameos and our favorites, which is different for each of us here.
BioWare has been the most unstable AAA developer of the last ten years. It feels like every few months, there's news of top BioWare people leaving the studio in the middle of major projects. That's always a bad sign and Calling it now: If Dragon Age does poorly, BioWare is headed to the EA graveyard.
Seems like their "artistic integrity" was worth more than making actually good games.
Someone needs to buy BioWare from EA it they can. Because it’s mostly EA’s doing focusing on Multiplayer games and Battlepass bs. BioWare can’t handle it anymore under EA it’s just not possible
@@kylecrombie5201yea and the ones that actually care about the game all left the company and it just suit there who care how much money they can get out of us
I really love the dedication and patience the Dragon Age community has for the next installment. Certainly, all that crunch needs to be corrected in future installments. But even taking that into account, waiting a decade or more for a sequel to an extended multi-entry story/setting is just exhausting. People change a lot in a decade, and even if they still love the same things the hype or passion can dwindle. Its hard to believe back in the early 2010s I was imagining what two or three Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls games would look like, and certainly wouldn't have expected this.
I have no faith in Dreadwolf not being a *complete* disaster on launch. This will be the final nail in BioWare's coffin.
Thank you for another update jackdaw, i do think this could either go really well or really bad, on one hand it could improve communication, or on the other hand it could worsen everything, i just hope this has good effects and not bad, it's so sad
I agree with you. A smaller tight-knit team might be what the game needs and result in less disagreements. Otherwise, things will go sideways, and I hope it doesn't turn bad.
I can hear the sadness in your voice. The spark isn't there. I feel for the developers. Wishing them the best!
This was such a sad update. I always try to find the positives, even in unfortunate decisions, but in this case it's hard to do that bc people's livelihoods were terminated. Brilliant devs like Luke and Mary among them which is utterly SHOCKING. Am I still looking forward to DA:D? Of course. But this was very ill advised and honestly a bad decision they never should have made.
I Hope there is a parallel universe where the bioware developers end up at larians door after being thrown out by EA
I bet their CEO didn’t see his pay trimmed while they were boosting their stock prices for the shareholders by “increasing agility.”
They specifically picked high paid originals from the BioWare team so they could reduce payroll and get rid of any dissenting voices. BioWare made a name creating single player RPG’s with a focus on story and characterization and EA wants to use our nostalgia for the epic titles BioWare created to trick us into playing a generic Dragon Age branded MMO RPG with micro transactions. That’s their vision. I bet you the people fired were people that advocated for DA:D to be single player with an emphasis on the story and characterization like the BioWare games of old.
EA is stupid. It doesn’t even seem to matter to EA that the market is showing that single player character/story driven RPG’s are wins. Gamers like good games. Nobody is playing Dragon Age because there are elves, magic, and fetch quests. We play Dragon Age mainly because we love the characters and they just chose to fire key people making those characters.
My expectations for the game just crashed. I’m not buying it until I hear reviews. If I need closure, I’ll just write my own ending.
You know, at this point, I would be interested in watching a documentary of behind the scenes details of what goes on, and what exactly happened with all of these changes and drops, after the game is out, and the secrets can be released.
Anyway now that I’m less angry thanks for you honesty, Jack. I’ve been in other fandoms before where things were obviously going downhill and other news accounts were often falsely positive, downplaying issues that I often knew were a massive concern if things didn’t turn themselves around, and in that scenario I was unfortunately right. I appreciate that you’re not aiming to give false hope anymore and I agree, even if the game is good I’m just going to think about how people who wrote about half my faves like Gaider and Kirby are gone and I’ll just be sad/mad. I agree that I hope this will be the last Dragon Age game.
Thank you for keeping so many people informed on this. My opinions over the game are already set, at the present moment i just keep myself informed with your videos and nothing more.
this is all devastating, as someone who has been following Dragon Age my whole life since the first game it's just sad to see the franchise weakening like this, I wish a lot of strength to those devs who lost their jobs, they've been doing a great job so far, I hope that they find better opportunities
...
Shadows fall
And hope has fled
Steel your heart
The dawn will come
..... 😔
Yeah.. I was thinking the same thing, I WANT to want more DA games after DA:D but with the loss of people like Mary and so many other key devs who've been there since the beginning it's just so sad and it's so hard for me to also keep positive. Ugh a small part of me was hoping you'd have some positive spin to put on it like you often do but I agree it would just feel disingenuous.. things suck right now and I'm genuinely kinda scared the game might get canceled all together. Hopefully that's just me overthinking though... cause that would depress me 😓 I have a small hunch that EA's trying to go the AI route but idk for sure hopefully that's just my bitterness talking and not an actual reality.
It won't ne canceled it will come out ea has spent too much for it to be canceled
Why would you even want more games? If there is another, it will surely come out in 30 years, anyway. 😂.
I wonder whether EA will then announced record breaking profit again after all these layoff. But, when you looked back at BioWare history of poor project management and crunch, it's no wonder why they are in this position now.
Lets hope dragon age dread wolf is good enough to save biowear
I've heard about this september 2023 release before, but have never thought about it as something they canceled recently. For me, they decided to post pone it after starfield release date announcement, that came in march. BG3 was already set to release in august, so obviously there was not space anymore for another RPG. But if they delayed it recently, then it seems they could've thought of simply releasing and abandoning it. I don't think that would be the case. Even EA knows how important this game is (to at least take back the investment) to not market it before launch. I hope next year's summer we get to play it. Probably we'll see more about it in the Game Awards in december.
They are afraid because they know what kind of game they are releasing, and they know a true RPG like BG3 will destroy it for completely.
Really hard to stay optimistic at this point. Things are not looking well.
Gaider left, started a new company and put out Stray Gods, a new type of RPG, while BioWare dithers with Dragon Age. Someone needs to take the reins and get a game delivered before BioWare goes completely under.
I just try not to worry about the release date, it’s hard to keep having expectations when we keep being let down as a fan. I think I’m slightly unique when it comes to the dragonage world, I only started playing dragonage when inquisition came out and I know it’s not a popular opinion among the community that has been there from the beginning of the franchise but it’s one of my favorite stand alone games, I can’t even begin to describe my love for this game, how may different ways I’ve played and still play. I’ve put in an amazing amount of hours into this game and still play to this day. It’s hard to compare it to the new baulders gate game because they are so different. I hope the dread wolf game will live up to the legacy of inquisition. I hope when it finally comes out that it will provide a game that presents a lot of game play options and replayability. I feel sad for all the ups and downs the company has faced and am scared somewhat that all the changing of hands it’s experienced in development will have an effect on the final product. I just hope at least the essence of da inquisition will be felt, with some familiar faces and places while providing new gameplay into places we’ve only heard about before now in thedas. Thanks for staying on top of the news and being a integral correspondent for all things dragon age.
I was hoping 2023 would be a different year when it comes to Bioware...
How many employees featured in that 'Dragon Age: Behind the Scenes' promo video from 2020 actually work at the stuido still?
Finally. Someone is talking about the current state of Dragon Age 4.
Thank you for the update, Jackdaw. I honestly agree with you about Dragon Age. If they're going to take as long as they have with DAD, then I don't want another game. I'd much rather that they give the IP to another studio like Larian and let them do it. BioWare and EA have just disappointed us time and time again, even when it looks like it's getting better, it just gets worse. Whatever decision they make for DAD or the studio itself, Dragon Age and Mass Effect will always hold a special place in my heart.
I feel so awful for the people that got laid off, it really seemed to come out of nowhere. Am I concerned about DA:D? Maybe. Can I wait until it comes out? Yeah, I'm good, I'm over here in a love relationship with BG3. I think a release date for 2025 makes sense. I wonder if we'll start to see something about the game next year? I think DA:D will be the last Dragon Age game.
After BG3, I can’t help but have high expectations for Dreadwolf… but I’m still holding on to hope that Bioware will pull through! I just want to have closure with DA.. 😣
They won't pull through, most of the orginal devs that worked on the other 3 games were fired bro. Ea, literally ruined bioware.
I'm sorry but, Bioware just lost me. Bioware is no more. This is where I stop following news about them. I will play the new game (if there is any) if other people like it...not as a die hard fan anymore.
I think we have given them enough energy and time to just keep being here. I'll still be here for you of course, we besties now, not because of DA or anything hahaha ❤
Something tells me part of this axing of roles has to do with SWTOR, since it's moving shop and half the staff on SWTOR is moving with it. Could also be unrelated, but since the news regarding SWTOR, I am not surprised to hear BioWare is making other cuts here and there. I just hope it won't affect the story of the game and the quality of it all. I will remain optimistic and hopeful with a hint of caution.
Problem is that several people who were fired have been fundamental to Dragon Age lore who have been there from Dragon Age Origins days so it WILL affect Dreadwolf (unless they have the full story set in stone already).
@@Shadeiusthe lore isnt just gone or lost with the people who left. The lore has definitely changed and evolved since origins. And theres likely alot of revisions, brainstorming, and conversations about lore tbd all the time. The OGs leaving doesnt spell disaster for the lore imo. Now if they fired everyone and then hired all new people without any direction or insight, then id be worried bc they only have whats already confirmed in game to build off of.
@@Shadeius You're right. I am assuming they have the full story set already, especially after the Alpha announcement.
😢 Thanks for the update!!!
I'm sure if BioWare could go back in time and reconsider EA as a publisher, they would. I wish Swen Vinke could make BioWare its partner and re-hire all those who were laid off, but if wishes were horses I'd be neck-deep in horseshit. Not certain BioWare would survive independency even with community support, but they aren't surviving now either. My heart is absolutely breaking.
Hard to believe that bioware churned out 5 titles in the 6 years from 2009 to 2014 - dragon age 1, 2, 3 and mass effect 2 and 3. Fast forward to today and they've only released 1 game - Anthem. While I really feel for the folks who were laid off, this was inevitable owing to the studio's lack of productivity and success in the last few years.
Would be awesome if Larian took over the Dragon Age and Mass Effect IPs but EA knows what they have in their hands, most likely will give those away to another team like Motive, doubt Bioware will survive even if Dreadwolf manages to be good, knowing EA they will can the studio at this point either way.
That would be perfect.
not Larian, I would trust CDPR more with the Ips
@@channel45853 After the botched CP2077 launch? Hell nah.
Hard disagree, I don’t want that studio anywhere near those games. ME has the best feeling and most fun third person combat out there. Larian has no experience in this regard.
@@-Sparagmos- Fair point, didn't think about that, all in all sad news, we'll see what happens next year.
Thank you for your honesty and dedication ! For all these years, I have tried to keep hope despite of the bad signs we've got, or should I say the absence of sign... with their hollow promesses, they only succeeded to build up expectations for finally giving us nothing. Yes, we've got comics, short stories, serie, all of that was fine but are they not supposed to make a game ? I am tired of these crumbles. I would have been less angry if they had not kept teasing fans with empty updates and tweets. I think it is annoying and disrespectful when all the community is waiting for almost a decade.Of course, they might be.excited about their work but I find hard to trust a studio who deliver 'words' and not proper info about gameplay or in-game content. From now on, I just would like to move on. I want to thank the community who shared delightful, exciting theories and insights about dragon age games. It was so much fun. You can be proud of you guys, love u all ❤❤
Well, I've been saying that Dreadwolf has to succeed if we want another Mass Effect. Now, they were aiming for a Sept release. That has been pushed back to northern summer next year.
Here's some good news. The massive success of Balder's Gate 3 is proof positive that single player games are financially viable. In fact, some are speculating that BG3's success is why Dreadwolf has been delayed.
Take heart mt friends. We will see Dreadwolf next year.
aka=Ea is cutting us off at the shoulders, following by cut off by the knees then if these games fails to meet expectations RIP Bioware.
Ooooh I've been waiting for this video!
I just hope DAD will be the final chapter in this dragon age story even if they continue new stories in THEDAS or beyond like they did with Andromeda.
I'm really dreading this delay, but I'll continue to stay optimistic and hope for the best.
I’m trying to remain positive but it’s a little hard to do so considering they were fired not laid off (fancy company jargon) and the company is trying to make it look pretty but BioWare is basically falling apart piece by piece and imploding instead of going down with the ship like EA wants them to do.
Yeah, this is the first of the negative updates that's shaken my optimism. Losing writers (Kirby wrote Varric! Varric!!!) in particular bodes poorly. I've had a pretty mixed experience with Baldur's Gate 3 and I really want Dreadwolf to knock it out of the park because Andromeda and Anthem aside, Bioware has always given me the things I want most out of RPGs. I really hope Dreadwolf can show that they still have that in them, but...gosh, does it not look great right now
Maybe EA should be minimizing the size of their corporate staff. You know, the ones who have made the decisions that have led to some of this bs. They just thought they could milk their customers indefinitely and when players started rejecting their unfinished offerings they fire the one group of people who weren't at fault, the people who tried to build an amazing experience in spite of the micro-mis-management. It just seems like an impossible situation because despite people's love for this world and the characters, ultimately there are other worlds out there to explore. I'm genuinely concerned that by the time DAD is ready to play, the people who would have played it will have left for other franchises. As much as I love Dragon Age, I love Mass Effect more, so that kind of mass migration away from Bioware games could really spell the end for Mass Effect.
It sounds like the game probably won't come out any time soon or at all. I mean internal delay after internal delay and all these people either being fired or leaving the company. The future of this game does not look great; even if does launch.
It wouldn't surprise me if Bioware is shut down by EA since EA has been known for shutting down their various companies.
This makes me very sad. I love Bioware, it is one of my all time favorite gaming companies of all time. DA: Origins is my favorite game of all time and the Mass Effect series is one of my all time favorite gaming series alongside the Witcher trilogy.
No idea why EA is holding onto BioWare when they don't even want to make single-player RPGs...
BioWare will be shut down like many before under EA
@@chilbiyito Why not sell them to some other huge gaming company that collects other gaming comanies? After the success of Baldur's Gate 3 there would be interest, right? (btw clearly I have no clue how these things work xD)
Thanks for the update!!
Goodwill does eventually run out. These guys are talented and amazing, and they're being held to high standards. But announcing the game so long ago was the wrong move. I share the sentiment that I want this to be the last installment - they clearly don't have a clear vision for future games.
I'll never not love what the franchise COULD be/have been, but I just don't have faith in the current Bioware anymore. At this point I just wish a different studio/company could buy the rights to Dragon Age and give it the development it deserves.
Hey I started playing the game again
I had a question about something I been searching for a long time
how can you have every specialization at once
At this point I've more or less given up on it
I was really hopping for a trailer or something on dragon age day
I feel bad for those that have and will get lay off or let go such experience and talent they let go. those deserved better I have played Bioware games since baldur's gate and have totally enjoyed it all especially DA & ME. So to those of u that read this that got cut, A heartfelt Thank You for so much enjoyment you have given me thur the years. I pray that you find something else in your field soon. And I for one hope to hear where you went and that u and your families are ok. I think if the was going to do this they could have given you some notice, like when project was done, u would be let go. it is sad day to hear all these changes, r they letting one whole studio going more or less. It seems like EA don't care about us just their Sports fans their cash cows. Not us who have been around since DA and ME started and some of us have to save up for us to get the next in series and the extra stuff or the Deluxe Ed. So that way when it hits pre order we r on it. And look at how long we have been waiting for details and them to start marketing it. but we r starting to lose hope here. EA your bad and mean, we fans should matter to. Thank You very much jack for keeping us informed, I appreciate it.
As much as I want to think positivly, really is starting to feel like we won't ever see the game actually come out, which is heartbreaking especially for those that have been working on the project for so long.
We've been at this my friend on DA updates for years and this year has been most disheartening. It's real people's lively hoods at stake. But I'm waiting this out until this game comes out, until then I won't make solid conclusions.
whast the name of game playing in background at 11:23 ?
I want to have hope but it's just hit after hit and I know some of it is EA (maybe most of it is EA) but some of it also just feels like bad direction and Bioware not knowing what they want to be and what they want to do. It's extremely frustrating. I don't want to rush the creatives behind any video game property but 10 years feels completely absurd to me. It is hard to keep wanting a game that feels like it's never going to happen from a studio and publisher that doesn't seem to respect the people doing all of the work. I am less enthusiastic about this game everyday.
I genuinely think they are going to shoot for Nov 2024. That would be 10 years since D:AI. That would generate buzz alone and damn near ensure immediate game sales.
Thankyou for the update.
Thank you Jack for the update. The news that 50 people were let go... I was like "What the f are they doing?!" and that Dread Wolf will be for 2025... but THEY BETTER MAKE IF WORTH IT! And we have some games to play when we wait... Like Bg3 and Diablo 4 are now on my list 😏
The heart dies a slow death. Shedding each leaf like trees, until one day there is none. 😢
When lead writers left the studio a bit after DLCs were launched for DAI, it was a sign. Mass Effect Remaster was the studio’s last successful game. I gave up as many already did.
Sad thing is, that the new generation won’t play with DA1&2, the older ones move on and won’t touch the new game.
I was waiting for your insight on the latest news
Starting to think this game is never coming out...
It is EA killing bioware
2025???? Really? Thats...that's heartbreaking because it's not even concrete and could go longer. I mean...I'm so disappointed
We really appreciate your positivity dude, you've made the wait much more bearable. It's so sad that we collectively feel so... deflated now. So sad and frustrated for the developers. It sucks so hard, how tainted Dreadwolf will be now. :( great video as always. I'm glad we have you to get us through!
Bioware getting with EA was the worst decision they ever made.
If dragon age games would keep going i hope someone buys dragon age name and everything that comes with it from ea and bioware
I would bet money I don't even have they're going to be replacing a lot of their writers with AI, and we'll see an immediate nosedive and quality and they'll try to find everything in the world to blame except EA's usual 'do everything as cheap as possible' strategy. I'm really trying not to just write off all future BW games but let's face it, they're never going to get back to where they were. That's definitely not going to happen under EA. You can look at how they've driven the Sims franchise right into the ground and how the games have progressively gotten worse while also getting more expensive since EA's acquisition. I guess Bioware is the new Maxis, which is really sad to think about
Exactly! I didn’t get the Sims4 until it was free and the first freaking screen is the shop? That’s not even subtle. The game looks good but it’s pretty soulless now. I put tons of money into the Sims when the games were good but the game isn’t good anymore so I’m not giving them my money. The reason they had to give the game away for free is because I’m not alone in that assessment. Despite that, they want to do the exact same thing to the other prestigious franchises that they bought.
I like Inquisition but what I see when I play it are the bones of excellent ideas that were sacrificed to meet the expectations EA placed on the BioWare team. They smoothed edges on the thematic material. They gave us wide open spaces that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual story. We got soooooo many fetch quests. The whole game felt like a segue to the next game, not a self contained story with defined acts and character progression. The game didn’t feel done until I played the DLC. All of this makes sense when you consider that the game wasn’t supposed to end. We were supposed to be endlessly fetching things for people and adding groups to our cult even though the groups we added to our cult didn’t change anything about the world.
I have no doubt that the people fired in these lay offs wanted to make a Dragon Age game not an MMO with a Dragon Age aesthetic. It was a bullet they almost didn’t dodge with Inquisition and it appears the devs worked really hard to prevent EA from turning Dreadwolf into a soulless cash grab MMO as well. What is absolutely insane to me, though, is that we can see the success of the kinds of games the BioWare team appears to want to create and the suits at EA are ignoring it. Gamers aren’t as stupid as they think we are. We don’t like Dragon Age because of the cool aesthetic and randomly generated excuses to do violence, we like it because of the endearing characters. Those characters require humans to imagine and create them. Firing the humans that do the creative work is just so stupid.
just after baldur's gate 3 they released this statement... y'know, there's a better timeline out there where the dragon age series ended up becoming the game BG3 is, dragon age should've culminated into something like BG3, but it just got worse and worse with each new release. it's so sad, it was dragon age origin that introduced me to crpgs, but it's so watered-down now, you can barely even call it an rpg
I'm 1000% on the train of hoping that Dreadwolf is an excellent game that it is the pinnacle of the DA franchise, and that it should be the last installment. Yes I would love more of the franchise but holy hell, it is not worth waiting for new games while Bioware is being managed by EA and their staff/vision is treated the way that they are. I love this game series so much but I do really hope that after Dreadwolf it's laid to rest.
Manifesting
🕯️🕯️🕯️
Microsoft acquisition of Bioware
🕯️🕯️🕯️
One can only hope
Imagine this: it's 2025 and we still haven't got a single character reveal
TLDR they removed anyone of value working at bioware, RIP they will never recover
is this dlc for Inquisition?
Hopefully the brand new trailer will drop at the game awards! 🤞🤞
i feel like theres a 5% chance they still pull through somehow and make an amazing game, but honestly, to me it seems like a 75% chance it’ll be meh to acceptable, and a 20% chance it’ll just be atrocious. i’m still choosing to be optimistic in the sense that the actual developers who do care about dreadwolf will try their very best despite EA’s (and even bioware’s internal) bullshit. maybe the puzzle pieces somehow fit in terms of competence and they’ll even somehow excel like a sleep-deprived college student somehow writing an A worthy essay the night before it’s due. afterall, the employees who made across the spider-verse were overworked and crunched to hell, but they still managed to make what many consider a masterpiece of a movie regardless, so it’s definitely possible.
even in this best case scenario though, it doesn’t make pushing employees like this okay. not only did 50 of them lose their jobs, but now the remaining have even more pressure to make a successful game and to juggle jobs that would have been handled by recently laid-off colleagues. time and time again, people have shown that they highly prefer the love and passion that indie devs put into games (BGIII, hades, cuphead, etc) instead of corporations just trying to find shortcuts towards maximum profit. it really is depressing, and my excitement for dreadwolf is basically gone now not just bc of how insanely long it’s taking, but also this news as well
props to you for trying to stay optimistic, i lost my hope in dad being a great game long time ago. i'm still going to buy it, i have so many fond memories and it's prob my fav franchise for many years already, but i no longer expect bioware to properly deliver good content. maybe i'll be pleasantly surprised, who knows, but it doesn't really look like this. bg3 set a high bar for rpgs rn, it would be hard to reach it, esp with all the mess the development was in recent years.
i never liked any of lukas kristjanson's writing so i'm not particularly sad that he personally is gone (i was hoping it would happen one day actually), but it's not just him leaving, it's a lot of other people being laid off - yeah, it's worrying for the future of bw/da, but more importantly i hope that those ppl manage to find new jobs soon enough.
We need a way to improve a work environment, let's fire people!!!!! 🔥
As much as I love Bioware. If we loss them I pray to the maker a new Co pay pick up dragon age
Sigh, EA doing what we feared, I'll reserve my contempt, but hard to remain unpessimistic about them.
if this game never sees the light of day I WILL die of heartbreak