Plans for Dragon Age 4 multiplayer have reportedly been canceled according to a new report, shifting the focus of the next Dragon Age game to an exclusively single-player experience.
The first two Dragon Age games were single-player experiences. Dragon Age: Inquisition was the third game in the franchise and it also happened to introduce a four-player cooperative mode, a first for the franchise.
Some time later, we got our first teaser for Dragon Age 4 at The Game Awards 2018. That was followed by another trailer for the game at The Game Awards 2020 late last year. Understandably, some players might be looking forward to playing the game with their friends again, but it looks like you might have to go it alone: the plans for Dragon Age 4 multiplayer have reportedly been canceled.
Why Was Dragon Age 4 Multiplayer Canceled?
As Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reports, sources are saying that BioWare's Dragon Age team has been permitted to remove all of the planned multiplayer content from the game, owing in part to a recent multiplayer game published by Electronic Arts that didn't perform to its expectations.
Apparently, Dragon Age 4 was going to have a "heavy multiplayer component," although no specifics are mentioned; odds are, it would have probably included similar co-op play to what we saw in Inquisition at the minimum. However, it looks like EA might be a little more gun shy about tacking on multiplayer to a game that doesn't necessarily need it.
Anthem springs to mind as the possible big multiplayer failure in question; the game didn't quite take off as some might have hoped. BioWare was working on reviving the game via the Anthem Next program, but development on that initiative was shut down yesterday.
Failure wasn't EA's only focus, though — the company has also taken note of recent single-player successes. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order was pretty darn successful in its own right despite the complete and total lack of multiplayer; this game also reportedly outperformed EA's expectations for the game. This single-player success — combined with Anthem's lackluster launch — makes a pretty good case that single-player games can still do well.
Are you disappointed that there reportedly won't be any Dragon Age 4 multiplayer? What did you think of Dragon Age: Inquisition's multiplayer features? Let us know in the comments below!
