Looks like the burying of Anthem, among other things, has sent shockwaves rippling within Electronic Arts. The publisher now wants Dragon Age 4, as the next game in the series as it is colloquially known, to drop all of its multiplayer components.
Sources to Bloomberg say that EA is moving Dragon Age 4 back to a singleplayer model. Having first entered development in 2015, that was the way the game was planned in the first place. But in 2017, the publisher and Bioware, the studio responsible for the series, switched things up “to push for long-term monetisation”.
The most recent U-turn for Dragon Age 4 can be attributed to the performance of two different games under EA. One is the success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order made by Respawn Entertainment. The other is, as mentioned earlier, the flop of Anthem. These two have proven to the publisher that singleplayer games can still be lucrative. That, and Bioware is probably better off returning to its roots of making such games in the first place.
It’s an interesting change in direction for EA, to say the least. The company released nearly no strictly singleplayer game save for Fallen Order for a time. Though its decision may be a little misguiding, it’s probably for the benefit of fans of the Dragon Age series. It’s probably also something to look forward to with the next Mass Effect game.
(Source: Bloomberg)
