Dragon Age: The Veilguard - A woke disaster? Yep!

[Leave_Fargut]

I think the normalfags have reached their paypig limit on FIFA as it also under performed alongside Veilguard. Since now that FIFA and other EA sports games have incorporated gacha elements it means that your gacha "progression" is reset with every yearly release.

I can reveal the truth to you on FIFA as, without power-levelling, I've been subjected to a running commentary of FIFA player complaints over the last few years. The simple fact is that "FC25" was just a bad iteration. On release, the gameplay was so shit it turned a large proportion of the audience away from the game this year. Offensive teammate AI was dogshit, making constructing attacks awful (with the new "player role" system they stole from Football Manager being essentially non-functional) and the defender AI was somehow even more cheaty/rubber-banded than ever before, with a load of awful-feeling changes to how player locomotion works too. They've been slowly getting players back in with patches to back out most of the design changes and return to a gameplay model more like last year's, but for many the damage is done until 26 rolls around.

So, sadly, it's nothing to do with growing resentment towards the monetisation. In fact, if you go on twitter you can find still find people nostalgic for "packing" top players on the previous games, and whinging that the new game is shit so they haven't been able to spend as much on this one.

 

[ZMOT]

America is getting browner and gayer, and it's been received wisdom for 15 years now that if you want to grow your market, you'd better figure out how to appeal to more than just white males

except the game gets sold in more than just america, so the overall demographic balance doesn't really change.
but yeah, execs are retarded so that point doesn't really matter.

I'd take any of them over any game made with the absolute pos that is Frostbite. It can produce some good visuals at times, but for the most part, it's a one trick pony that only its creators know how to tame, and even then not all the time. Catalyst was pathetic.

the only ones to ever complain about it afaik were bioware (to excuse their shitty development of anthem). no one else seem to have a problem with it, and even in the few cases it does like you said it's not a problem of the engine, but the people. dice' competence has always been all over the place, battlefield is notorious for being a bugfest and dice too retarded to not fuck it up (like updates where certain weapons crash servers).

just look at unreal engine to see what I mean.

 

[Mettaur]

https://ir.ea.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2025/Electronic-Arts-Reports-Q3-FY25-Results/default.aspx

https://x.com/shacknews/status/1886903236839219674

"Dragon Age had a high quality launch and was wellreviewed by critics and those who played; however, it did not resonate with a broad-enough audience in this highly competitive market."

"In Q3, net bookings was $2.22 billion, down 6% year-over-year. Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperformed, highlighting the competitive dynamics of the single-player RPG market, and EA SPORTS FC 25 started strong, but softened through the holiday period."

"Let me start with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Historically, Blockbuster Storytelling has been the primary way our industry brought beloved IP to players. The game’s financial performance highlights the evolving industry landscape and reinforces the importance of our actions to reallocate resources towards our most significant and highest-potential opportunities."

 

[AnOminous]

"It had a totally awesome launch, but somehow flopped so bad the studio responsible ceased to exist!"

The pure retardation.

 

[ZMOT]

"It had a totally awesome launch, but somehow flopped so bad the studio responsible ceased to exist!"

The pure retardation.

it's for the shareholders, the whole part is utter bullshit but dumb investors will lap it up

- well received by those who played it (who?)
- highly competitive market (fucking lul)
- competitive dynamics of the single-player RPG market (such as?)
- highlights the evolving industry landscape (make shit games make shit money)
- reinforces the importance of our actions to reallocate resources towards our most significant and highest-potential opportunities (more fifa milking)

 

[dame dudi jench]

"It had a totally awesome launch, but somehow flopped so bad the studio responsible ceased to exist!"

The pure retardation.

they're just saying the issue wasn't that the game was buggy on launch. The next bits of that quote were that the game "was well-reviewed by critics and those who played; however, it did not resonate with a broad-enough audience in this highly competitive market."

That's them saying the public didn't like it and so they didn't buy it. It's a pretty candid quote admitting that few liked it besides the reviewers. That's what candor looks like in this context, you're not going to see YouTuber histrionics in public company financial disclosures.

 

[p1138]

- well received by those who played it (who?)

Game journos. They gave it stupidly high scores afterall.

- competitive dynamics of the single-player RPG market (such as?)

Making things that don't piss off your customer base and actually interest more than 2% of the population? Complex, I know.

- highlights the evolving industry landscape (make shit games make shit money)

You see, because Trump won, even though the game launched before the election, the dynamics changed otherwise they totally would have sold an extra couple million copies of their shit game during the Christmas season.

- reinforces the importance of our actions to reallocate resources towards our most significant and highest-potential opportunities (more fifa milking)

Of course. Need to make more money off of soccer and madden. Plus they've got more mobile games coming out, lots of opportunity there since the mobile gaming market itself is a multi billion dollar a year industry.

 

[Ishtar]

So…are they going to outright state they are shelving the IP? Or will they be keeping it on ice?

 

[dame dudi jench]

So…are they going to outright state they are shelving the IP? Or will they be keeping it on ice?

Do you see any benefit to them in formally killing BioWare or any of its key IPs? If they do that they are telling the world they destroyed bioware and some of their most valuable IPs which they valued at $800 million as of 2007 when they bought bioware. I might be missing something, but i don't see any upside that makes it worth it.

 

[Mola Ram]

Do you see any benefit to them in formally killing BioWare or any of its key IPs? If they do that they are telling the world they destroyed bioware and some of their most valuable IPs which they valued at $800 million as of 2007 when they bought bioware. I might be missing something, but i don't see any upside that makes it worth it.

Have they ever formally "killed" Ultima? Couldn't they theoretically announce Ultima X or an Ultima I reboot tomorrow?

 

[The Doom Slayer]

It's actually even worse. This dumbfuck seems to be implying it failed due to not being a live service game.

“In order to break beyond the core audience, games need to directly connect to the evolving demands of players who increasingly seek shared-world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said

https://gamingbolt.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-underperformed-due-to-lack-of-shared-world-features-ea-ceo-suggests

 

[OutInTheRain]

Have they ever formally "killed" Ultima? Couldn't they theoretically announce Ultima X or an Ultima I reboot tomorrow?

I used to love the Ultima games as a kid. I don't want them to touch it, I just want it to rest in peace. But I imagine they still own the IP.

 

[Optimus Prime]

It's actually even worse. This dumbfuck seems to be implying it failed due to not being a live service game.

https://gamingbolt.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-underperformed-due-to-lack-of-shared-world-features-ea-ceo-suggests

Oh, you know, it's because the game needed microtransaction lootboxes for that "sEnSe oF aCoMpLiShMeNt" or whatever the dumbass meme phrase was.

They genuinely want a something they only need to publish once and it just continuously milks the same people over and over, especially whales, and eventually just becomes a free money printing machine.

 

[Mola Ram]

I used to love the Ultima games as a kid. I don't want them to touch it, I just want it to rest in peace. But I imagine they still own the IP.

Ultima is one of those things I was always vaguely aware of as a kid but never quite managed to get into, although I did own Ultima III for my C64. Couldn't get into it because it wasn't Bard's Tale (although it seems to have been a lot like Wasteland, which I had no problem with), but I loved the documentation. I am in total agreement: don't touch it, unless you're willing to give Richard Garriott a mountain of cash to work on it.

They genuinely want a something they only need to publish once and it just continuously milks the same people over and over, especially whales, and eventually just becomes a free money printing machine.

Which is absolutely bonkers. Even GTA Online, for all its faults, offers regular content updates both large and small, generally every few months.

 

[OutInTheRain]

Ultima is one of those things I was always vaguely aware of as a kid but never quite managed to get into, although I did own Ultima III for my C64. Couldn't get into it because it wasn't Bard's Tale (although it seems to have been a lot like Wasteland, which I had no problem with), but I loved the documentation. I am in total agreement: don't touch it, unless you're willing to give Richard Garriott a mountain of cash to work on it.

The first 3 are jank as fuck, and were more fucking around and learning tech than anything. 4 onward for Ultima is the series everyone remembers and has fond memories of. I have especially fond memories of Ultima Underworld 1 and 2. Those were the precursors of The Elder Scrolls games.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Which is absolutely bonkers. Even GTA Online, for all its faults, offers regular content updates both large and small, generally every few months.

Well, that actually is closer to the model I think this guy saw as ideal. It's a lot less investment to make content for an established game to milk as DLC, as opposed to costs for a whole new game up front.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

Do you see any benefit to them in formally killing BioWare or any of its key IPs? If they do that they are telling the world they destroyed bioware and some of their most valuable IPs which they valued at $800 million as of 2007 when they bought bioware. I might be missing something, but i don't see any upside that makes it worth it.

Companies do this all the time. They buy a company, fuck things up, and declare it a total loss. This happens every time EA closes a studio they acquired.

Bioware is a toxic brand now. They haven't released a successful game in 11 years, and DAI would have flopped if it was released after TW3. Making another Bioware game would be like making another Star Wars movie. Even if it were good, the audience would either be young people who think "yeah those are boomer games" or boomers who are aging out of gaming or have a bad taste in their mouth due to girldick or the perception that Bioware is no longer stuffing girldick down everyone's throats.

 

[Leaf Wage Slave Jr]

They genuinely want a something they only need to publish once and it just continuously milks the same people over and over, especially whales, and eventually just becomes a free money printing machine.

Y’know, at least Konami is upfront about doing this (re - the Pachinko machines

I’d actually probably respect EA more if they just switched to making actual slot machines, that’s clearly the business model they want

 

[Mettaur]

So…are they going to outright state they are shelving the IP? Or will they be keeping it on ice?

They usually don't announce such things due to the negative P/R that would arise from it. They just don't greenlight pitches from Bioware when proposed for very logical reasons.

Usually when the press reports an IP has been shelved it's usually coming from an ex employee, a leak or just hearsay.

 

[p1138]

Have they ever formally "killed" Ultima? Couldn't they theoretically announce Ultima X or an Ultima I reboot tomorrow?

No, and there was an "ultima" game as recently as 2013, and apparently they disallowed the ultima branding on some licensed underworld spin off thing in 2018, which means they've probably got some plan for it buried somewhere.

So…are they going to outright state they are shelving the IP? Or will they be keeping it on ice?

That would make no logical sense to announce. Nothing to gain, and you'd actually lose any possible licensing opportunity if one were to come up. An independent studio might make an announcement like that just for the sake of wanting to temper expectations so they can move on to do something new. But a publisher like EA? They're not going to announce anything unless required to do so, or they have something to gain from it.

Y’know, at least Konami is upfront about doing this (re - the Pachinko machines

I’d actually probably respect EA more if they just switched to making actual slot machines, that’s clearly the business model they want

Konami owns their IPs though, EA on the other hand relies on a lot of licenses for the bulk of their mtx revenue.