Hawk The Slayer
Member
Nothing was going to change this abomination from being a well deserved failure.
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EA CEO implies Dragon Age Veilguard failed due to not being a live service
- Thread starter Dr. Samuel Hayden
- Start date
Gamer_By_Proxy
Member
Like I said before, there wasn’t enough purple.
Timberwolf25
Member
The problem with Anthem is that it was a bloody buggy mess upon release that took way too long to fix (arguably still not fixed). It also suffered from a severe shortage of regular updated content and end game activity.
It had a good core and was fun enough to play, but I'd argue it needed at least a year more dev time. The full release felt like a beta. Weirdly enough, you can still play Anthem today...lol
It probably suffered from it's vision being way more than the consoles at the time could handle without having constant loading between zones.
It had a ton of problems, but I don't think the live service model was it and I'm far from a live service model evangelist.
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Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
The core Dragon Age audience isn't as big as you think it is. Mass Effect has no chance. Bioware is going on their Green Mile walk right now.
diffusionx
Gold Member
It's a great point, look at how Hogwarts Legacy bombed compared to Suicide Squad.
Barakov
Member
Talk about taking the wrong lesson from a failure. EA could fold tomorrow and I'd say it'd be a net positive for videogames as a whole.
Killjoy-NL
Member
I like a good live service game, but this is bs. It's just wasn't an appealing game. Lol
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
Dragon Age and Suicide Squad aren't even in the same stratosphere as the Harry Potter IP.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Dragon Age had very modest expectations and didn't come close. They weren't expecting it to sell 20 million copies. It was just a turd of a game that flopped, the problem wasn't live service. Baldurs Gate 3 sold like 15 million copies and isn't a huge IP or live service.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Of course Veilguard isnt a live service game. They immediately bailed making new content after it launched.
It did so bad, EA didnt even bother making DLC for an RPG! Not even one extra shitty quest.
It did so bad, EA didnt even bother making DLC for an RPG! Not even one extra shitty quest.
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
Many factors contribute to a games performance. One (large) factor is market preferences.
Hypereides
Member
Shocking. EA lead by Wilson arrive at an erroneous conclusion.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
I truly wonder where EA would be without FIFA.
diffusionx
Gold Member
There's clearly a market for singleplayer RPGs these days.
Haint
Member
Didn't it actually sell pretty well? Just had a stupid budget/expectations, and dead dropped off a cliff cause word of mouth was terrible. It was also marketed more as a spectacle action game (in the vein of Uncharted or Spiderman) with a sprinkling of some Destiny rip off mechanics, not what most people would consider a traditional ARPG.
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MrTroubleMaker
Gold Member
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
There's a market for literally anything though so your statement doesn't mean much.
The market for Dragon Age Veilgaurd type games seems to be shrinking every year. The number of AAA single player flops the last few years has been unprecedented. It has become the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.
diffusionx
Gold Member
This isn't true in a world where games like BG3, Elden Ring, Dragon Dogma 2, and Like a Dragon exist. Like I said, EA set modest expectations for this game. They didn't expect it to be an AAA blockbuster. It was just a bad game and the audience figured it out quickly. You are reading what you want to read into it.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Yup. A good RPG will sell. Heck even Skyrim sales probably still inches its way up year after year.
But what the market has nicely agreed upon is seeing right through junk like Veilguard. Even with modest expectations, it still bombed by -50%. Over the past year or two, the general public has been able to easily identify lousy products with political stank to it. Doesnt matter if it's games or movies. And avoid them in droves.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Even if a DA gamer didn't see any previews, cut scenes, push ups, or knew about lack of NPC control, right off the bat EA was off to a bad start.
How many DA gamers were hyped up after seeing this boxart?
If you took away the Dragon Age title, most people would guess it's cover art for a mobile mtx game. There is no way on earth any game would guess.... "Hmmm.... yup, I think that might be for the new DA game"
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Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
Your cherry picked, short list of successful games (was Dragons Dogma 2 even a success?) doesn't address the elephant in the room.
The AAA SP games market seems to be cratering with an unprecedented number of flops in recent years. This market was supposed to be the "safe" play. Big budget + big IP was a guarantee to sell 10 million copies of a game in years past.
That's no longer the case.
Market preferences have shifted dramatically.
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diffusionx
Gold Member
Why are you even talking about AAA in this thread, as if that term means anything. Dragon Age was not on that level. EA didn't expect it to sell 10 million copies.
avalonzero
Member
Between the DNC lunacy, and people like this I am genuinely wondering if a third of society have lost their damn brain oozing out of their ears...or are the rest of just delusional and seeing a simulation in real time?!?
It failed and you have the reasons, millions told you the reasons...upon reasons
You nixed the dark fantasy and rpg elements of its predecessors for Fortnite colors and safe boring designs inoffensively dull!
the landscape (while beautiful) were linear and boring with little to find or seek out
The story was dull, it was generic and the villain was practically lifted from DA2 (or inquisition I forget)
The senseless DEI garbage that makes a character a joke and memorable for the wrong reasons
The Marvel-esqe humor that was tired after the Avengers...the 1st one
The blatant hypocrisy, if Tassha were a male character (fyi he is) as in a Cis male as the too far gone would say and pulled this
Resetera and those similar to them see above and sadly most of the gaming industry and yes that includes "gaming journalism" would have prepared a Noose for the misogynistic, chauvinist Neanderthals' who was responsible and expect an apology tour from the entire game studio and yes that includes "game journalists"demands as well
and FYI I'm sorry to everyone for having to watch that...
Honestly, as a fan of the previous dragon age games, I was going to give this one a go at some point soon but this scene alone absolutely killed any desire I had. This is straight up garbage writing and I don't see how any sane person could see otherwise. This shit has no business in any game, period. Otherwise, reap what you sow motherfuckers.
StereoVsn
Gold Member
If only BioWare was put on a Live services game involving perhaps giant robots or say frames that you could pilot.
Hmm… let’s call it Banthem. It would have been a sure fire hit.
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
Dragon Age Veilgaurd credits: 3,871
Concord credits: 1,982
They didn't expect it to sell 10 million because they did mock reviews and adjusted their forecasts accordingly. It sold half of even that.
Don't go trying to paint Dragon Age as a AA title. This is a massive flop.
Zuzu
Member
I’m playing through it now. The combat is fun but a bit repetitive. Everything else so far is pretty mid. Honestly I feel this series is very overrated. Even Dragon Age Origins isn’t that incredible. I played it all the way through back in the day and while the gameplay was good in Origins the story wasn’t anything great. I don’t think I really loved any of the characters either. I don’t think this series would have much success as a live service.
Cyberpunkd
Member
Zathalus
Member
There have been plenty of single player or single-player focused games that have been massive successes over the past few years as well. Kingdom Come 2 just released and appears to be another one. Almost 30 in total have passed the 150k Steam CCU metric in just the past four years. Then you have the Sony/Nintendo exclusives that are also mostly sales juggernauts.
Flops of mega games have existed for ages and will likely continue in future.
ProtoByte
Weeb Underling
I think Wilson knows better. He greenlit single player only Iron Man and Black Panther games in the last 2 years. Then again, the new studio they started up for BP is on an unfortunately on Veilguard trajectory.
I imagine this is just a pretext to when they inevitably shut down BioWare and allocate even more resources to service titles. He knows that the gaming press is not honestly going to break down why it failed. He is partially at fault for the current state of BioWare because of Andromeda and Anthem, but he doesn't have to admit that his obsession with live services was ever a problem now.
I imagine this is just a pretext to when they inevitably shut down BioWare and allocate even more resources to service titles. He knows that the gaming press is not honestly going to break down why it failed. He is partially at fault for the current state of BioWare because of Andromeda and Anthem, but he doesn't have to admit that his obsession with live services was ever a problem now.
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Astray
Member
Reading what he actually said, I don't think he's talking about the game needing to be live-service in that sense.
It feels like he's talking more about something like a Baldur's Gate 3, which has co-op and frequent content updates that keep the playerbase invested (which in my mind make it a GAAS-like). We can talk about the writing all day long, but the game design itself wasn't unique or interesting enough to carry the game's flaws, it had no real hook.
It feels like he's talking more about something like a Baldur's Gate 3, which has co-op and frequent content updates that keep the playerbase invested (which in my mind make it a GAAS-like). We can talk about the writing all day long, but the game design itself wasn't unique or interesting enough to carry the game's flaws, it had no real hook.
CityHunter1981
An Absolute Desaster
I think he wanted to say in order to fail even harder.
Or didn’t he learnt anything from recent failures such as Conchord? Or does he really believe Conchord failed because of its dei elements and Dragon Age didn’t had any???
Or didn’t he learnt anything from recent failures such as Conchord? Or does he really believe Conchord failed because of its dei elements and Dragon Age didn’t had any???
Cyberpunkd
Member
When has that been the case? First and foremost the game needs to be good, and if it an established series it either needs to stick to what made the series successful or try and tweak things slightly without alienating the existing fans.
Dragon Age is a bad game, and it's a bad Dragon Age game. Woke has nothing to do with it - again, BG3 had sex with a bear, and was a new release to a series that had last one 20 years earlier + was a completely different game.
Good games sell, bad games don't. That has always been the case, people that are unable to make good games will argue that EVERYTHING ELSE is the reason for a lack of performance EXCEPT that one thing that matters.
If there would be just a way to find out why the sales tanked....I dunno, maybe do a survey or send emails to people who bought the previous entries of the Franchise and just ask them. I would gladly tell them that the main reason why I bought all three previous games on release and will never touch Vailguard was the obnoxious woke crap they decided to add to the game. But they are way to cowardly for that and instead try to gaslight their investors with made up bullshit.
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