As Dragon Age Fans Fear the Death of the Series, One Former BioWare Developer Offers Words of Reassurance: 'Dragon Age Isn't Dead Because It's Yours Now'

Following layoffs at BioWare impacting key Dragon Age: The Veilguard developers, a former writer offered reassurance to fans, stating, "DA isn't dead because it's yours now."

This week's EA restructuring prioritized Mass Effect 5, reassigning some Dragon Age: The Veilguard staff to other EA studios (Game Developer reported Veilguard's creative director, John Epler, joined Full Circle's Skate project). However, other employees were laid off.

This followed EA's announcement of Dragon Age: The Veilguard's underperformance. EA reported 1.5 million engaged players in the recent quarter, significantly below projections—a nearly 50% shortfall. Importantly, EA didn't specify if this figure represented unit sales (the game was also available via EA Play Pro) or included free trial participation through the standard EA Play subscription.

Regardless, the announcement, BioWare's restructuring, and confirmed layoffs fueled fan concerns about the series' future. No DLC is planned for The Veilguard, and BioWare's work concluded last week with what appeared to be a final major update.

However, Sheryl Chee, a senior writer on Dragon Age: The Veilguard who transitioned to Motive Studio's Iron Man project, shared a message of hope on social media. She acknowledged the challenges of the past two years but emphasized her continued employment. Responding to fan concerns about Dragon Age's demise, she highlighted the power of fan contributions:

"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."

She further elaborated, emphasizing fan creativity as a continuation of the Dragon Age legacy.

Dragon Age's history spans from 2010's Dragon Age: Origins, followed by Dragon Age 2 (2011) and Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014). The Veilguard, released a decade later, marks a significant gap in the series' timeline.

In September, former Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah (who left BioWare in 2020) revealed Dragon Age: Inquisition sold over 12 million copies, exceeding EA's internal projections.

While EA hasn't explicitly declared Dragon Age defunct, the situation at BioWare and the complete focus on Mass Effect 5 makes a new Dragon Age game seem unlikely in the near future. Regarding Mass Effect, EA stated a core team at BioWare, led by veterans of the original trilogy (including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley), is developing Mass Effect 5. EA assured IGN that the studio is adequately staffed for the project's current development phase.