As Dragon Age Fans Fear the Death of the Series, One Former BioWare Developer Offers Words of Reassurance: 'Dragon Age Isn't Dead Because It's Yours Now'

ign.com:

Following layoffs at BioWare that saw the exit of many key developers of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, one former writer on the series has moved to reassure fans by saying: “DA isn't dead because it's yours now.”

This week, EA restructured BioWare to focus on Mass Effect 5 only. Some who worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard were moved to projects at other EA studios. Some revealed they were laid off and were now seeking work.

The decision followed EA’s announcement that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had underperformed on its expectations for the long-awaited action RPG. EA said Dragon Age "engaged" 1.5 million players during its recent financial quarter, which was down nearly 50% from the company's projections.

Notably, EA did not say the 1.5 million number was unit sales (Dragon Age: The Veilguard was also available as a part of EA's Play Pro subscription service). Additionally, it's not clear whether EA is counting a free trial of the game that was available through the cheaper EA Play subscription in the 1.5 million number either.

Either way, EA’s announcement, its restructure of BioWare, and confirmation of layoffs have combined to create the sense within the Dragon Age fandom that the series is pretty much dead. There is no DLC planned for The Veilguard, and BioWare’s work on the game came to an end last week with what sounded like its last major update.

But Dragon Age: The Veilguard senior writer Sheryl Chee, who was moved from BioWare to Iron Man and Battlefield developer Motive, took to social media to offer words of hope.

"I'm now with Motive,” Chee began. “It's been a hard two years seeing my team get chipped away and having to still keep going. But I'm still employed, so there's that."

Then, in response to a fan who lamented the death of Dragon Age, Chee replied to say the series now belongs to the fans who will keep it alive with their own contributions.

“So a cool French woman dropped a cool quote from Camus on me today: ‘In the midst of winter, I found there was,