Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be released in a few weeks. However, there will be no preload on PC (Steam); you can only download the game at the time of release. The developers explain that a hated feature will not be included.
What is known now? The developers now explain that the game can be preloaded on certain platforms. This means you can download the game before release and play it directly when it becomes available. The preload option is available on the following platforms:
- On the Xbox Series X|S, you can download The Veilguard starting from October 14.
- On PS5, the preload for The Veilguard is possible starting from October 29, 2024.
What about the PC? There will be no preload on PC. And there’s a good reason for that, as the developers explain.
No Denuvo DRM on PC, but no preload
What do the developers explain? EA states in a post on Steam that they want to forgo additional DRM measures, at least when ignoring the Steam platform. However, this also means that the game cannot be downloaded early on PC. The developers themselves write on Steam:
As you prepare for October 31, you will find below the preload times for each platform. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will not contain any third-party DRM (such as Denuvo) on any platform. The absence of DRM means that there will be no preload time for PC players.
Why is Denuvo so hated? Players generally dislike DRM mechanisms in games. For them, protective measures are merely tools to make it a bit harder for players. They have long criticized manufacturers for using software like Denuvo, as the impacts are perceived as only negative. In Dying Light, for instance, Denuvo at release caused players to be locked out of their purchased game. This is because Denuvo allows only a limited number of game starts.
Many players regularly state on Steam that they will boycott the purchase of a game if it’s known that Denuvo will be implemented. Therefore, the absence of Denuvo is likely a positive sign for many players.
What else is important? The developers reiterated that Dragon Age: The Veilguard runs natively on Steam and will not require additional launchers. Furthermore, the game has been verified for the Steam Deck. In a previous post, the developers already stated that they invested thousands of hours in the PC version to ensure that PC players do not receive the worst version this time.
You should be able to control the game on PC with both mouse and keyboard as well as with a controller. However, it is still unknown whether the developers have also adapted the menus for mouse and keyboard users or whether PC players will have to scroll through menus optimized for controllers for hours again. Buyers will see this at release.
Whether the game will run smoothly at release is another question many are asking. Because the last major release by EA on Steam was a technical disaster that still has neither been bug-free nor runs without issues to this day.
In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, your character can choose one of three classes, each utilizing two different types of weapons. There are also nine class specializations that can be assigned to the key factions of the role-playing game. MeinMMO summarizes everything important for you: Dragon Age: The Veilguard – All Important Information on Classes, Specializations, Weapon Types, and Combat
