That's crazy

Looks like new expansion in 2025!

I highly doubt it is going to matter much because Bioware probably won't be around much longer. Considering the lackluster reviews (only an 83 when EA cherry picked critics they thought would be favorable to them for early codes) and the lackluster preorder numbers for Veilguard (against a massive budget from the game being almost a decade in development across 3 different builds of the game), it wouldn't surprise me at all if EA shutters them soon, especially since Mass Effect 5 isn't even in active development yet, preproduction with only like 50 devs last I heard.

This felt like a last chance game for Bioware after Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem both disappointed EA in the sales department (just last year they laid off 50 to try and stave off their demise long enough for Dragon Age to release), and it doesn't seem to me like it is going to sell the kind of numbers EA will want it to sell considering it's high budget and the fact that it still hasn't broken Amazon top 20 with only 2 days to go before release. The EA grim reaper comes a-knocking soon methinks:

Matty's response, as well as replies I see from Jez and former Xbox Empire head Jay Wood:

Okay, I've seen Matty's response but for argument sake, if someone did break NDA which they would be doing if they shared review footage with a friend, then especially if this friend started leaking stuff, then yes, that would very much matter, even if the developer was shutdown, EA as a company would blacklist them and no other publisher would ever trust them.

I believe Matty when he says it wasn't him, I did think it would have been out of character for him but that just means it was his editor who leaked the footage to someone else which means he needs to fire his editor, that editor broke his trust and could have tanked his career, every publisher is going to ask him if he still employs the same editor now.

Anyway, Veilguard is 84 Meta after 51 Reviews, 83 Open after 53 Reviews. Those are not lacklustre reviews when taking into account...

A. Dragon Age as a series - Origins has a Meta of 86 though PC has only 1 less review but a widely different average of 91 so I'll be fair and average that out to 88. II has a Meta of 79. Inquisition has a Meta of 85 but PS4 only has 2 less reviews for an 89 average so again, I'll be fair and average that out to an 87. Which means the Dragon Age series has an average Meta of 85 (rounded up from 84.666). Dragon Age as a franchise has always hit the 80s and only once hit the 90s on Metacritic via Dragon Age Origins (PC Version). 

B. This is a big step up from recent Bioware releases, the most recent being Andromeda with a Meta of 71 and Open of 72 and Anthem with a Meta of 59 and Open of 61.

These two factors make me more optimistic for Mass Effect. Even if it doesn't hit the 90s as the Mass Effect franchise did way more than the Dragon Age franchise, we should at least get a strong mid 80s title out of it rather than Andromeda's levels. If a near mid 80s title is considered lacklustre and dooms a studio then this industry is screwed but I for one am not a 90+ obsessive and hope I will enjoy Dragon Age.

So there seems to be 2 camps for Dragon Age. The one camp that wanted the game to be a certain way and thus not happy and the camp that went in with no expectations and seem to enjoy what the game is and having fun. Personally for myself, I believe this Dragon Age probably more up my ally than previous entries as I never liked the series. Maybe I might punt on getting this one as I have read enough reviews to know I am definitely not in the first camp.

I think you summarize the issue pretty well there. That is a problem that many franchises have encountered recently: In their eternal quest to attract a new audience, they ended up alienating their original one. I don't know why they keep doing this; it should be obvious by now that that strategy is way too risky.

I had expectations, and frankly, the game is delivering. 

But again, I loved all of them and replayed Inquisition last month to prepare for this one (and still think Inquisition is amazing). In the end, all of those are amazing games, but the issue is that (and you see it on those forums) if a game is not exactly like some people want, the noise they are making, calling the game "trash," etc., is always burying anything else.

Like this non-sense about how the "Hinterlands" were bad... I mean; people are using it now as a clickbait, but at the end; you could just do your quest and get the hell out of it. Which is also why Inquisition was one of the best DA. But if you listen to some, it was the worse of all, and blah blah blah and they keep coming with "Hinterland" and "OMG no respawn" thingy as the reason why the game is just bad. And then those who think that the game must be always following whatever it was when it cames out 20 years ago... It should not be the case and like everything franchises needs to evolve (including gameplay, story, etc..).

It will be the same for Veilguard; but playing it right now I can tell you that this is a top tier game. But like always, it is black or white with Internet today; game is either amazing, 10 out of 10; or it is pure trash. 

Good to hear you're enjoying it

Yeah, that is the internet today, too black and white, if it's not 90+ it's trash, conspiracy theories, anger, hate sells and it seems like people spend more time complaining about games than actually playing games now, people wanting games to fail for certain stupid reasons, etc. It's why I'm just avoiding it all entirely nowadays, not just that specific nonsense but just...everything about gaming, it's a shame. Shoutout to Miles and Parris for never falling into this toxicity that other gaming personalities do. Fuck Twitch, Twitter, Kick, YouTube. It's rage bait grifters everywhere.

Seems like Indiana Jones is getting very positive previews from almost everyone.

Except PC Gamer.