According to the Bloomberg report, EA has given BioWare, the team behind Dragon Age 4, the go-ahead to remove all multiplayer and games planned as RPG service components in recent months.This pivot for an entirely single-player experience is reportedly the result of the success of Fallen Order, which sold millions of copies to exceed EA’s expectations, and Anthem’s failure to win back the audience after a difficult launch. Bloomberg reports that sources close to the development of Dragon Age 4 said the game was previously designed to have a “heavy multiplayer component”.
Game development started in 2015 and two years later, in the fall of 2017, EA and BioWare restarted development to include long-term monetization, the report says. This restart and pressure for monetization was apparently what led to Mike Laidlaw’s departure from BioWare. Dragon Age 4 was then referred to as “Anthem with dragons” by those who worked on the game.
During that time, some of BioWare’s leaders resisted EA and struggled to put development back in a player’s focus. It looks like they ended up winning the fight for the single player, if this new report continues.
The release date for Dragon Age 4 has not been announced. BioWare’s next release is Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which is scheduled to be released in May this year. While waiting for that and the eventual return to Thedas, take a look at the teaser trailer for Dragon Age 4 and then read this story about how Tevinter was confirmed as the main location for the next game.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and creator of guides for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.