Dragon Age Will Be Single-Player Only In Huge Development Shift
After years of disagreements with EA, BioWare has finally been allowed to scrap the multiplayer portions of the upcoming Dragon Age 4.
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Following the effective death of Anthem and success of single-player titles like Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, EA is lifting a live-service multiplayer mandate on Dragon Age 4, allowing the studio to focus entirely on making a better single-player experience. This news has excited many, as single-player RPGs are an area that developer BioWare excels at.
The last several BioWare titles, with the exception of Mass Effect: Andromeda, have had some sort of multiplayer component. Anthem was more or less entirely multiplayer, Mass Effect 3 had a wave-based co-op mode, and Dragon Age: Inquisition also featured a co-op mode. Of course, none of these were terribly beloved. Some enjoyed those inclusions, but multiplayer elements weren’t a massive selling point for the single-player franchises. Thankfully, BioWare and players apparently won’t have to worry about this any longer.
Bloomberg reports that after many alleged disagreements with EA, BioWare will be allowed to scrap the multiplayer elements of Dragon Age 4. EA granted the team permission to transition following the success of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, which garnered over 10 million players despite not having any multiplayer. The Star Wars title overperformed by EA’s standards, while Anthem crashed and burned. This transformation into a single-player-only title only began a few months ago. The RPG has been in development since 2015, but was rebooted in 2017 to push for “long-term monetization,” likely some sort of live-service element. That now-canceled move led to creative director Mike Laidlaw departing from the company, as well as employees who labeled it as “Anthem with dragons.”
This was something that BioWare had reportedly fought with EA about for quite some time and now, the team has won. It’s unclear if the untitled fifth Mass Effect also has any sort of multiplayer functions, but if it does, it’s likely those will be scrapped as well. The upcoming remaster of the Mass Effect trilogy will not feature the third game’s multiplayer, though it’s unknown if it was a result of this move. Dragon Age 4, as it’s currently known, has no official title or release date. The team that was working on the reboot of Anthem has also joined the team for the single-player RPG, giving them an additional 30 people.
BioWare revealed recently a new teaser for Dragon Age 4 at The Game Awards which gave some insight into the narrative and world of the new title. When it releases, it’ll be the first new entry in the series in almost a decade. BioWare also gave a teaser for the new Mass Effect at the show, teasing a continuation of the original trilogy and much more. It’s expected to be much further away as Dragon Age has been in development for much longer, likely eating up a lot of the team’s time.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/dragon-age-4-single-player-multiplayer-ea-bioware/