Summary
- EA CEO Andrew Wilson blames Dragon Age: The Veilguard's failure on it not being live-service.
- While that's absurd, we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the idea of a multiplayer Dragon Age.
- A Fortnite-inspired GaaS would never work, but we've seen iconic RPG series from The Elder Scrolls to Final Fantasy and Warcraft make the leap to MMO and thrive. Dragon Age could do the same.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a game ten years in the making, compl👍etely faile෴d to meet expectations. We can argue endlessly about what went wrong, but we can all agree that EA CEO Andrew Wilson is off the mark.
He argues that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:it failed because💞🌸 it wasn't live service, which everyone from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:former lead writer David Gaider to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:former creative director Mike Laidlaw has rightly torn apart. Dragon Age 4 was cancelled in 2017, brought back as a live-service game, and then after the disastrous launch of Anthem and its cancelled re-launch, gutted of🦩 those same live-service elements. EA appeared to get the memo, even if it meant meddling i🦄n The Veilguard’s development and dooming it to failure.
If Anthem was enough to dissuade EA, as it should have been, it’s bizarre that the unprecedented shuttering of PlayStation's first-party flagship Concord and the string of cancellations that followed in its wake didn’t hammer home how volatile the live service space is. Just look at 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sui⭕cide Squad: Kill the Justice League, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Marvel’s Avengers, Redfall, Hyenas, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Foamstars, XDefiant, and so many more high-profile blockbusters. All of them tried to enter the live-service arena, to stand tall among giants like Fortnite🐻, only to be humiliated in front of a global audience🌞.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard would have undoubtedly joined those ranks ha🔴d it been live service. Bu▨t the response to Wilson’s claims has been to dismiss the idea of multiplayer Dragon Age altogether. I’m not sure that’s the right approach, especially when we’ve seen just how well these series can be adapted.
It Worked For The Elder Scrolls, Warcraft, And Final Fantasy
Before you raise your pitchforks, when I say that, I don’t mean adapted to live service. The idea of a Fortnite-style Witcher fills me with dread, and that’s exactly where Wilson is tripping up. He’s looking outside of the RPG sphere entirely because that’s where the m🌌oney is. He has shareholder brain, and thinks that Fortnite = big bucks, so ༺Dragon Age Fortnite = big bucks.
Dragon Age apeing live-service🦩 games would only alienate its core audience, and trying to pull fans away from the live-ser﷽vice juggernauts they're so invested in rarely works. It would be a disaster that appeals to nobody, collapsing in on itself in mere months. But we have seen iconic RPG series break into the multiplayer space, just in a much more organic and fitting way — MMOs.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Elder Scrolls Online has kept the torch lit for over a decade since Skyrim first released, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 14 is still one of the most popular MMORPGs, despite the series continuing with two numbered entries and a trilogy of remakes, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:World of Warcraft eclipsed the series that birthed it long ago. Wh꧋ether it’s spin-offs or dedicated, mainline entries, fans of these series are far more receptive to MMOs. It doesn’t carry the grimy connotations of live service, nor does it indicate a ‘forever’ game that the studio will be straddled with until time immemorial.
MMOs are side projects usually run by different studios with expertise in MMOs , often in collaboration with the main developers, expanding on their worlds in meaningful ways while remaining true to their RPG origins. There’s rich, in-depth class building and expansive fantasy stories oozing with lore, but now you can experience it with your friends. It’s a far cry from battle passes, simplified character ac🐽tion, and an on-a-rails story with little room for roleplay.
Dragon Age Is Basically A Single-Player MMO, Anyway
It’s not even that far-fetched, since Dragon Age games already feel like MMOs. The foundations are incredibly similar, as you unlock abilities with each level that you slot onto a hot bar. These can’t just be fired off aimlessly, either, as there’s a layer of strategy to consider — 🎶the ‘spreadsheet combat’ MMOs are so often derided for. You need to synergise them with your party, which means tanks using taunts to draw attention, healers hanging back and keeping everyone alive with a variety of spells, and two damage dealers whittling away enemy health with rapid-fire attacks.
Dragon Age feels like playing through a PvE dungeon, but you control all four party members. And as we’ve seen with so many other legacy🍌 RPGs that made the jump, even in a multiplayer setting, there’s still room for meaningful narrative decisions and roleplaying opportunities, as the wider story anඣd narrative expansions are often catered towards single-player questers. Hell, ESO even locks teammates out of certain story locations.
Dragon Age dabbling in the MMO space would feel like a natural evolution, especially since 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars: The Old Republic, an MMO spin-off of BioWare favourite 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Knights of the Old Republic, already did the same and is still going strong. We know this works, we’ve seen it work. If Wilson is hell-bent on multiplayer Dragon Age, stop looking at Fortnite and look at other RPGs. Playing Dragon Age with friends doesn’t sound nearly as ba💜d if it’s in an MMO.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- Top Critic Avg: 80/100 Critics Rec: 71%
- Released
- October 31, 2024
- ESRB
- 🔜 M For Mature 17+ /▨/ Blood, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- BioWare
- Publisher(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Electronic Arts
- Engine
- Frostbite
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