Dragon Age Co-Creator Offers EA Some Advice: Follow Baldur’s Gate 3 Developer Larian’s Lead

Former BioWare developers have criticized EA's assessment of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf's underperformance and subsequent restructuring of BioWare. EA CEO Andrew Wilson attributed the game's failure to a lack of broad appeal, specifically citing the absence of "shared-world features and deeper engagement." This statement followed a significant restructuring at BioWare, focusing solely on Mass Effect 5 and resulting in layoffs and reassignments of staff who worked on Dreadwolf.

EA's financial report revealed that Dreadwolf engaged only 1.5 million players, significantly below projections. This underperformance, coupled with previous development challenges including layoffs and the departure of key personnel, has fueled criticism. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier highlighted BioWare's internal sentiment that the game's completion was a miracle given EA's initial push for, and subsequent reversal of, live-service elements.

Wilson's suggestion that incorporating shared-world features would broaden appeal has been met with resistance from former BioWare employees. David Gaider, former narrative lead on Dragon Age, argued that EA's takeaway—that the game should have been live-service—is short-sighted. He suggested EA should instead emulate Larian Studios' success with Baldur's Gate 3, focusing on the core strengths of the Dragon Age franchise that previously drove strong sales.

Mike Laidlaw, former creative director on Dragon Age, expressed even stronger dissent, stating he would resign if pressured to fundamentally alter a successful single-player IP into a purely multiplayer experience. He implied that EA's demand for such a drastic change was not only unwise but had occurred more than once.

The outcome of these events appears to be the indefinite shelving of the Dragon Age franchise, with BioWare fully committed to Mass Effect 5. EA CFO Stuart Canfield acknowledged the changing industry landscape and justified the resource reallocation to focus on their highest-potential projects, implicitly confirming significant staff reductions at BioWare.