Bloomberg: Dragon Age 4 Will Now Be A SP (Non-LS) Game

Well, that's just it. BioWare would have the option of sticking to their plans if EA didn't force them to alter them all the time. It's safe to conclude that there's some poor decision making on EA's part when the multiple creative studios they buy all end up the same way: a mess.

Indeed, though Bioware has over the years changed as a studio - and so have I as a gamer - drifting towards multiplayer games.

Bioware has created and catered for a small yet passionate, dedicated and hardcore multiplayer community which I have been part of. If they turn their back to that community, what is that community supposed to do? Still hype up and buy their games?

Well, not me. I will pass it.

I understand you might have your reasons to look forward to a new Dragon Age game, good for you. Most of the so called "Bioware fans" should be on the same boat, though not all.

From what I know, Soderlund has a bit of an ego on him and his ideas are often...trend focused from behind, if that makes sense.

His departure did see an increase in quality and diversity, as he was one of the people who was pushing for multi and service in everything.

Thay said, he was bang on about the mechanics of Anthem, namely the flying, being the main draw, which regardless of how many feel it was the best part of the game.

Still, him not there is a good thing net overall, he was basically fitting round pegs into square holes.

I was second guessing that name in my head because something felt off. Thanks for the correction. But yeah, I think that would be a good alternative to multiplayer for the Dragon Age series.

I don’t agree. Just because one game does something doesn’t mean all games in the franchise have to. Since Halo is being discussed, look at that series. ODST, Reach (a fan favorite), Wars 1 and 2, all had protagonists who weren’t Master Chief and are regarded well.

Also what do you mean with Ryder’s clever language?

That's obviously not all it takes, or else Anthem would have done better. Multiplayer games (successful ones, anyway) make regular changes and updates, specifically to keep the core loop engaging and keep players playing.

From my perspective, there's hardly a lack of single player games either. If one's only requirement is that a game be single player-only, there's a lot of options.

None of the articles I've found on this recent development have said or even implied that the resources from MP are now being given to the SP campaign, so personally, I don't see how it makes a difference. Publishers don't just give developers a big pile of money and say "do whatever, but make sure it has mp", resources are specifically allocated for mp. If BioWare isn't doing mp anymore, in all likelihood, EA has taken back those resources (that weren't already spent), and moved the people working on mp to something else that isn't Dragon Age at all.

But hey, if anyone can find me a source that says otherwise...

I know. Just saying just because they started a series that way doesn’t mean they need to continue that pattern.

Then look at any other series that you do like.

Ah okay. Thank you for clarifying.

Can't you just play Dragon Quest 11 or Control or FF7 Remake? Or Persona 5 Royal or Bravely Default 2 or the Mass Effect Remaster?

See how that argument is a non-starter?

Also, I'll say it again: REMOVING MULTIPLAYER DOESN'T MEAN ANY MORE EFFORT OR RESOURCES ARE GOING TO SINGLE PLAYER.

All that has *actually happened*, as far as I can tell, is that EA has lowered its expectations for a developer who has recently underperformed.

If multiplayer was going to be as prominent as it seemed like it was then I'm glad it's gone. The quote from those sources seems like DA4 was going to revolve around the multiplayer which would have been a gamekiller for me. I have little confidence Bioware can pull that off.

Live service focused on the single player aspect? Sure, I don't mind that.

What would that even look like?  Achievements is all I can think of..  Maybe cloud saves.

AC odyssey does it. Basically any situation where a game is updated "live". So the world can be updated for weeklies, the world can be updated for an event that suddenly occurs that you have to deal with. To me, live services just mean the world can be updated live which makes much smaller events like dailies or weeklies possible whereas before they had to package it all into a big DLC pack and things.