Dragon Age 4 will reportedly no longer have any multiplayer components, so the game will now be a single-player RPG. According to reports from Bloomberg, all multiplayer was removed from the game after Anthem flopped and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was more successful than anticipated.
The game had previously been designed with a “heavy multiplayer component”. As live-service games had been incredibly successful for EA (and the industry as a whole), helping the publisher to grow exponentially since 2012, they had pushed for all games to include some form of component that could be monetised and keep players engaged after a game’s release. This was true up until recently, when BioWare’s live-service title Anthem was considered a disappointment upon release and all development on the title was cancelled yesterday. On the other hand, single-player title Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order broke multiple sales records and racked up more than 10 million unique players. Since then there have been titles like Star Wars Squadrons that are not live-service titles either.
The next Dragon Age title was in development for two years before EA decided to reboot the game to allow for its live-service monetization. This is assumed to be the reason behind Mike Laidlaw’s departure from BioWare after a tenure of 14 years. The game was eventually revealed at The Game Awards in 2018, but all we’ve seen since then has been brief teasers and concept art. Things weren’t sounding good after the team has also lost other vital members along the way, such as Dragon Age Executive Producer Mark Darrah. However, with BioWare’s expertise lying firmly in single-player RPG territory, EA seemed to think it safer to let the team go back to what they know best, which will come as good news to many people.
EA has previously stated they’re “very, very confident” about BioWare’s future, and they’re hoping Dragon Age 4 will be received better than Anthem and Mass Effect Andromeda. So far, neither EA nor BioWare has officially commented on the report, but as soon as we hear anything, we’ll let you know.
[Source: Bloomberg]