Former BioWare Developer Reassures Dragon Age Fans: 'The Series Lives On Through You'

Following the recent layoffs at BioWare, which saw many key developers of Dragon Age: The Veilguard depart, one former writer from the series has reached out to fans with a message of hope and reassurance. Sheryl Chee, a senior writer who transitioned from BioWare to work on Iron Man at Motive, took to social media to address concerns about the future of the beloved franchise. "DA isn't dead because it's yours now," Chee stated, emphasizing the enduring spirit of the Dragon Age community.

This week, EA announced a restructuring of BioWare to focus exclusively on Mass Effect 5. As a result, some developers who worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard have been reassigned to other projects within EA's studios. For instance, John Epler, the creative director for Veilguard, was moved to work on Full Circle's upcoming skateboarding game, Skate. However, several other team members were laid off and are currently seeking new opportunities.

The layoffs and restructuring come in the wake of Dragon Age: The Veilguard's underperformance against EA's expectations. The company reported that the game engaged 1.5 million players during the recent financial quarter, a figure that fell nearly 50% short of their projections. It's worth noting that this number does not specify unit sales, as The Veilguard was also available through EA's Play Pro subscription service. Additionally, it's unclear whether the 1.5 million figure includes players from a free trial offered via the cheaper EA Play subscription.

The combination of EA's announcement, the studio's restructuring, and the layoffs has led to widespread concern among the Dragon Age fanbase that the series might be on its last legs. EA has confirmed that no DLC is planned for The Veilguard, and BioWare's work on the game concluded last week with its final major update.

Despite these developments, Chee remains optimistic about the future of Dragon Age. In her social media post, she shared a quote from Camus, "In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer," to highlight the resilience of the community. "But DA isn't dead," she insisted. "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."

Chee's message resonated with fans, one of whom announced plans to write a giant alternate universe story inspired by Dragon Age. "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," Chee concluded.

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, saw a significant gap before the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard a decade later. Former executive producer Mark Darrah, who left BioWare in 2020, disclosed that Dragon Age Inquisition sold over 12 million copies, far exceeding EA's internal projections.

While EA has not explicitly declared the end of the Dragon Age series, the current focus on Mass Effect 5 and the changes at BioWare suggest that a new Dragon Age game may not be on the horizon anytime soon. EA confirmed that a "core team" at BioWare, led by veterans from the original Mass Effect trilogy, is now working on the next installment of that series. "While we're not sharing numbers, the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development," EA told IGN.