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Bloomberg/Jason Schreier: Dragon Age 4 to be a single player game after the success of Jedi Fallen Order

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KoolAid

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Oct 25, 2017
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Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. has made a major pivot on the next game in the popular Dragon Age series, allowing the developers to remove all planned multiplayer components from the game, according to people familiar with the matter.

Dragon Age is a series of fantasy games from the EA-owned developer BioWare. The next Dragon Age, which doesn't yet have an official title or release date, had previously been designed with a heavy multiplayer component, said the people, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the press. In recent months, it has transformed into a single-player-only game after EA was stung by a recent multiplayer flop.

The move is a significant shift for Redwood City, California-based EA, which in recent years has pushed almost all of its games to include online components that can be monetized following their releases. As video game budgets have grown significantly more expensive, publishers like EA have looked toward alternative revenue streams. One popular route is to fill a game with optional gear that can be purchased for small fees. Another is to continually update a game with new content over time, charging players for access. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson called this trend, known as games-a-service, as "foundational to our future" in a 2019 interview with GameDaily.biz.
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www.bloomberg.com

Electronic Arts Removes Multiplayer Mode From Dragon Age Game in Big Pivot

Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. has made a major pivot on the next game in the popular Dragon Age series, allowing the developers to remove all planned multiplayer components from the game, according to people familiar with the matter.
www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com
 
PlanetSmasher

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This game is going to be such a mess in practice, isn't it?

It's gone through so many revamps and revisions and refocuses there's no way we're going to actually see a coherent, confident project at the end of the day.
 
ToadPacShakur

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Oct 25, 2017
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Holy fuck it took Fallen Order to convince them to do that?

What even is Bioware now lol
 
Lord Vatek

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PlanetSmasher said:
This game is going to be such a mess in practice, isn't it?

It's gone through so many revamps and revisions and refocuses there's no way we're going to actually see a coherent, confident project at the end of the day.
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In this case, it sounds less like a total revamp and more like removing planned features.
 
Mr.Deadshot

Mr.Deadshot

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Oct 27, 2017
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So a lot of work goes to waste?
Do developers nowadays plan a game WHILE making them?
Whats up with all this back and forth?
 
PAFenix

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Nov 21, 2019
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Imagine that. Almost like chasing trends doesn't really amount to much when people dived into these franchises for completely separate reasons.

" One popular route is to fill a game with optional gear that can be purchased for small fees. Another is to continually update a game with new content over time, charging players for access."

Oof.....
 
iksenpets

iksenpets

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Oct 26, 2017
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Mr.Deadshot said:
So a lot of work goes to waste?
Do developers nowadays plan a game WHILE making them?
Whats up with all this back and forth?
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Lot of work going to waste, but better it go to waste now when those developers can move on to parts of the game people will actually play, rather than have another two or three years of wasted work on a mode no one will care about to satisfy a corporate mandate.
 
carlsojo

carlsojo

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Oct 28, 2017
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That's too bad, Inquisition multi was aight.

ME3 multiplayer is still one of the best experiences I've had.

Ton of pressure now on Bioware to deliver - if they can't deliver a single player only experience, then I don't see a big future for them.
 
Pancracio17

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Oct 29, 2017
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PlanetSmasher said:
This game is going to be such a mess in practice, isn't it?

It's gone through so many revamps and revisions and refocuses there's no way we're going to actually see a coherent, confident project at the end of the day.
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Isnt it so far away it doesnt even matter? We should be getting Mass Effect first and we barely got a trailer for that.
 
Fisty

Fisty

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Oct 25, 2017
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Influenced by the success of Fallen Order and... not the other Dragon Age games. Yes, brilliant
 
Perkin_Warbeck

Perkin_Warbeck

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It was going to be a multiplayer game? What on earth were they planning?

It's a good thing they didn't put out a successful SimCity game in the last year, otherwise they probably would have turned it into some kind of medieval city builder.
 
Mr.Deadshot

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iksenpets said:
Lot of work going to waste, but better it go to waste now when those developers can move on to parts of the game people will actually play, rather than have another two or three years of wasted work on a mode no one will care about to satisfy a corporate mandate.
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I mean the multiplayer part of Mass Effect 3 was pretty popular. So it could have worked out. But seems more like they didn't like it so they decided to can it.
 

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ToadPacShakur said:
Holy fuck it took Fallen Order to convince them to do that?

What even is Bioware now lol
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A studio driven by the finances of EA. While I prefer single player games, changing direction on a whim based on the way the wind is blowing during a particular year doesn't make for a good game. This news should be worrisome unless they are doing a major rework.
 
Fisty

Fisty

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DukeNukum said:
A studio driven by the finances of EA. While I prefer single player games, changing direction on a whim based on the way the wind is blowing during a particular year doesn't make for a good game. This news should be worrisome unless they are doing a major rework.
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It would be worrisome if they didn't change direction on this after Anthem
 
Nugnip

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"Also, following the success of Jedi Fallen Order, every character in Dragon Age will have a light saber and a droid companion."
 
Sanctuary

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Oct 27, 2017
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Oh, uh great I guess? I never for once thought that DA4 was going to be anything other than a single-player game that also potentially had a multiplayer component just like ME3 and DA3. What the hell were they originally mulling, making a multiplayer only game that is set in the same world as the previous games, but plays pretty much nothing like them other than their multiplayer components? Surely they weren't going for Anthem, but dragons.

Serene said:
We are 1000% getting DA4 before the next Mass Effect
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Right, which is probably (maybe exactly) why we are getting Legendary Edition. To keep the series alive in the public's mindshare. I really hope though that sales of LE do not impact the development of ME4...

Mr.Deadshot said:
I mean the multiplayer part of Mass Effect 3 was pretty popular. So it could have worked out. But seems more like they didn't like it so they decided to can it.
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Right, but the multiplayer is what kept many people staying around after the campaign. How many actually bought it specifically, or even primarily for that though? Likely a very small minority of the total sales.
 
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Pancracio17

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modiz

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Honestly, a game getting soft rebooted like 3 or 4 times doesn't inspire that much confidence even if this shift is for a good reason.
 

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Fisty said:
It would be worrisome if they didn't change direction on this after Anthem
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My point is any shift in direction to a game already in active development presents a huge risk to the quality of the end product. Unless they are willing to put in the time to redesign in a meaningful way, there's a big chance you end up with a frankenstein of a game.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

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Mr.Deadshot said:
Sure, but do we exactly know how the multiplayer was going to work in Dragon Age 4?
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Well, it likely wasn't going to be The Old Republic, and the multiplayer they've had in their previous single-player games was not fantastic compared to games that were specifically designed around being multiplayer from the start, and they just recently bombed hard with a game that was entirely multiplayer focused, so I guess fourth time's a charm?

Regardless, if they actually turned DA4 into an entirely different genre, they would just be pissing off a lot of people, and possibly just losing one group to pick up those who don't really care for single-player stuff all that much, which impacts future development. The world doesn't need yet another fucking multiplayer focused game, and especially not from a company that used to be the best in the business making games that almost no one is making anymore.
 
bitcloudrzr

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modiz said:
Honestly, a game getting soft rebooted like 3 or 4 times doesn't inspire that much confidence even if this shift is for a good reason.
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DukeNukum said:
My point is any shift in direction to a game already in active development presents a huge risk to the quality of the end product. Unless they are willing to put in the time to redesign in a meaningful way, there's a big chance you end up with a frankenstein of a game.
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There are several different ways this could have been a service game that it will be difficult ascertain what changed. I still expect there to be some live service elements like what they have been able to do with recent AC, which are entirely single player. If the multiplayer side of the game was not something that directly impacted the story then it should not require a rework of the game. If the cut off a separate mode to pool
 
Fisty

Fisty

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DukeNukum said:
My point is any shift in direction to a game already in active development presents a huge risk to the quality of the end product. Unless they are willing to put in the time to redesign in a meaningful way, there's a big chance you end up with a frankenstein of a game.
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Going by what Anthem ended up being, we were getting a frankenstein'd game no matter what, tbf
 
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