Laura Fryer, a longtime Xbox veteran and former Gears of War executive producer, weighed in on BioWare’s future in the wake of Dragon Age: The Veil Guard. She warned that weak sales could force layoffs at the studio and urged executives to reassess marketing priorities alongside development plans.
Dragon Age: The Veil Guard opened strong on Steam, but enthusiasm has cooled since. It reached a peak near 89,000 concurrent players, yet the daily average now hovers around 30,000 and continues to drift downward.
Sales figures remain murky. Circana analysts suggest The Veil Guard is unlikely to reach Inquisition’s 12 million-copy milestone, though there remains a chance of a smaller but respectable total. Unconfirmed reports place Veil Guard sales at roughly 650,000 copies.
Against this backdrop, Fryer, a veteran figure at Xbox and co founder of the platform ecosystem, weighed in via a recent video. She argued that the industry has cultivated an information bubble in the media driven by marketing, which can leave players disconnected from the real product. She also commented on Dragon Age: The Veil Guard, noting its substantial production budget means profitability would require multiple millions of copies sold, a target she believes is unlikely to be reached.
It seems this will not be enough, and Fryer warned that it could lead to further layoffs. Source: VG Times.
BioWare has trimmed staff before; last year roughly 50 employees were laid off in pursuit of greater agility and faster development cycles. Yet at present there is no official talk of new cuts, and the studio continues to report progress on its projects. Mass Effect 5 remains in play, while Dragon Age: The Veil Guard has not seen follow-on content, a departure from the usual cadence of the series.
A recent review summarized the Dragon Age entry as enjoyable but not outstanding. The accompanying concept art hints at a darker, more mature direction for the saga, suggesting a tonal shift that could influence future installments.
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