EA CEO Andrew Wilson says BioWare has returned to its strengths with the impending release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, praising its reviews while predicting that it has “breakout potential” thanks to what he characterizes as limited competition.
Speaking with investors in EA’s quarterly earnings call, Wilson reflected on some of BioWare’s troubled recent history, which has been defined in part by the failure of Anthem — a multiplayer game Wilson described as “very, very different than something that would be known as a BioWare game.” In the wake of Anthem, Wilson said a “big shift happened” that saw “BioWare really returning to BioWare-type games; really returning to BioWare’s strengths.”
“BioWare has rallied around what made BioWare a fan-favorite studio and a fan-favorite brand and the types of games they make – incredibly rich worlds, incredibly nuanced characters, really powerful and compelling stories with comaraderie and friendships and relationships, and decisions that matter in the context of gameplay,” Wilson said. “And I think it’s been that return to what made BioWare great and giving the studio time to deliver against what makes BioWare great in the context of the Dragon Age world is what amounts to Dragon Age: The Veilguard.”
BioWare has rallied around what made BioWare a fan-favorite studio and a fan-favorite brand and the types of games they make…
Wilson’s comments come in the context of what has been reported to be a sometimes fraught relationship with EA. Rumors over the years have suggested that BioWare has been pressured to match the success of highly profitable modes like Ultimate Team, though the studio is adamant in saying that EA has been supportive of the studio. Our report on how BioWare managed to get Dragon Age: The Veilguard to the finish line after a tumultuous decade details some of the challenges that the studio has faced over the years.
Looking ahead to The Veilguard’s release, Wilson praised its solid reviews and suggested that it has “breakout potential” thanks to BioWare’s existing fanbase and the relatively clear release calendar. “We’re going into a market with limited competition for this category of game given some of the moves that has happened across the broader industry,” Wilson said, likely referring to Ubisoft’s decision to delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows into 2025.
Elsewhere, EA reported record earnings for its second quarter while adding around 15 million new players to The Sims 4 in 2024, and suggested that it isn’t interested in making Apex Legends 2. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for its part, releases October 31.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
