Dragon Age The Veilguard devs confirm the long-anticipated RPG once toyed with multiplayer, but that's gone: "It's straight-up single-player story goodness"

News
By
Last updated

Worried the next Dragon Age game will be live-service? "It ain't"

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf
(Image credit: BioWare)

Dragon Age 4, or what was once Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, has now been re-dubbed Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and although a multiplayer component was in consideration at one point, it's now been confirmed as a purely single-player, story-focused game.

The Dragon Age series was a strictly single-player RPG until the most recent mainline entry, 2014's Dragon Age Inquisition, added a four-player co-op mode. Although the next Dragon Age game was revealed several years ago, it's never been clear whether it would iterate on Inquisition's multiplayer mode or, God forbid, go full-on live-service. Now, we know for sure that Veilguard is a wholly single-player experience.

"After Dragon Age: Inquisition launched, the studio was given an incredible opportunity to explore, test, and validate a variety of gameplay concepts as we worked to determine what the next Dragon Age could look like," says Gary McKay, BioWare general manager and Dragon Age executive product, in the announcement of the title change. 

Latest Videos FromGamesRadar+

"We brought everything to the table which, yes, even included a multiplayer concept. The time we spent experimenting and iterating gradually taught us a lot. This work, and the amazing support from EA, helped us re-focus on creating an incredible single-player game with all the choices, characters, and world-building you’d expect from us."

Project director Michael Gamble also took to Twitter to clear up any remaining confusion about Dragon Age: The Veilguard, confirming in no uncertain terms that it's a single-player game. Big 'say it louder for the people in the back' energy going on here.

In the same blog post, BioWare also revealed that, at long last, we're getting some official gameplay on June 11 at 8am PDT/11am EDT/4 pm BST - less than a week away. The showcase will include 15 minutes of gameplay from the beginning of the game, which will take players back to Thedas for a new standalone story featuring a new lead character and a cast of companions.

The full Summer Game Fest schedule for 2024 includes more than just Dragon Age.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

LATEST ARTICLES
  1. "It never quite worked," Dan Houser says
    1
    Open-world spy game from Grand Theft Auto devs never happened because Rockstar couldn't get it right: "Other people can try, but I personally think it's hard"
  2. 2
    Mass Effect Universe supposedly featured "Hitman-style freedom" and a "galactic Cold War," according to BioWare insider
  3. 3
    Pokemon Winds and Waves might benefit from next-gen water tech, as a Game Freak developer publishes water simulation research
  4. 4
    Peak devs explain why the viral co-op game's size tripled with new console ports: "Instead of the same 30 daily maps rotating forever, you get 208 maps"
  5. 5
    Xbox COO and ex-Minecraft boss leaves Microsoft after just 3 months in the role