Dragon Age: The Veilguard is almost here, and EA says it has good reason to believe it'll be a big success.
During today's quarterly investors call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson attributed his confidence in BioWare's latest to the studio's RPG-making prowess, a lack of competition in the single-player AAA space, and strong reviews.
"When we think about what we have with Veilguard right now, we have a storied studio in BioWare, we have a storied IP with Dragon Age, we have a team that took extra time to make sure the world was rich and the characters were interesting and the story was compelling," Wilson said.
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard was loved by "those who played," EA insists, but "it did not resonate with a broad enough audience"
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"I think we're going into a market that has limited competition for this category of game, given some of the moves that have happened across the broader industry," he added, seemingly referencing the shift toward live-service that's happening across many AAA studios, EA included. "And so while I think it's too early to predict the outcome, the critical reviews have been incredibly strong. The team feels really energized by what they have delivered. And my sense is that, yes, it has breakout capabilities."
I do feel obliged to make a quick note that "incredibly strong" is overselling Dragon Age: The Veilguard reviews just a tad. Reviews are generally positive, but our own 4.5/5-star review is on the higher end of average. It's sitting at 'Generally Favorable' on Metacritic with a respectable 84 Metascore, but it isn't even close to being one of the highest reviewed games of the year.
Otherwise, Wilson's logic seems sound. Metaphor: ReFantazio and Silent Hill 2 Remake are both single-player AAA games that came out recently, but they're from wildly different genres to Dragon Age: The Veilguard. And it's definitely also true that BioWare is a beloved studio whose name alone will draw players to Veilguard, but as Wilson himself said, it's too early to tell whether it meets or exceeds expectations.
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