Many dirty details about the development of Dragon Age The Veilguard have come to light. Now the developers are responding as well.
The story of Dragon Age The Veilguard is anything but glorious. Although the game received good reviews from critics, a significant deviation from the dark predecessors, a blend into the current cultural struggle, and several production issues caused the game to fall far short of expectations.
After a major article with many enlightening details, former developers are now speaking out and explaining how they perceived the whole situation.
Which article is it about? Recently, a major article by Jason Schreier appeared on Bloomberg, detailing the problems surrounding the development of Dragon Age Veilguard and also Anthem. The report discusses several fundamental changes in the game’s direction, problematic decisions from EA, and the rivalry among the developer teams at BioWare. We covered the entire article here.
Now developers from BioWare have also spoken out.
What do the developers say? In social media, the developers of Dragon Age Veilguard are also commenting on Schreier’s article. Blair Thorburn, the design director of the game, said on Bluesky (via reddit):
The worst part is that the problems were voiced almost immediately, yet the decision was made to push through.
Thorburn still seems satisfied with the quality of the game, considering the negative circumstances under which Dragon Age Veilguard was developed, as he further states:
This strategy forced the team into an impossible situation from the start, and it was a miracle that we could even release it – not to mention the quality in which we released it.
Our story team was made up of heroes.
The fact that the developers, especially the writers, were under immense pressure due to this multiple realignment is also confirmed by Jo Berry. She had previously worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Mass Effect: Andromeda. She describes her experience with Dragon Age Veilguard as follows:
After seeing the conditions they were trying to create something under… I mean, I only got to be involved at the very end, and it was still – Holy Shit.
The community appreciates honesty but is sad: In the community, at least this openness from the developers is well-received. However, many fear that the developers can only speak so openly because they have lost their positions. In the Dragon Age subreddit, there is a large discussion about it. Here are some voices:
- “I know it won’t change the industry overnight, but at least I like that the developers can be honest and share their views directly with the fans.” – caffeinated__potato
- “It’s crazy that basically the same article has been written for 4 BioWare games in a row and they apparently never improve anything [about the situation].” – momoak90
- “The only thing that really makes me sad is the fact that we’ll probably never get a new Dragon Age or a remaster. I know Dragon Age Veilguard was poorly treated by the suit-wearers from the start, but if another Dragon Age ever came out, I would still buy it. That’s my favorite franchise of all time.” – goblin_bomb_toss
As for the future of the Dragon Age franchise, it is currently uncertain. Since many from the team of Dragon Age Veilguard have lost their jobs or been moved to other teams, the future of Dragon Age is currently in question. Whether one of the major RPG franchises will fade into obscurity remains to be seen: The creator of Dragon Age had clear words for EA: They should take a good look at Baldur’s Gate 3.
