Latest news with #DragonAge
Metro
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Mafia: The Old Country PS5 review - keep your enemies closer
The fourth Mafia game is a prequel to the whole series, set in Sicily at the turn of the 20th century, and featuring some amazing graphics and performances. In a world where Dragon Age is now treated as a dead franchise and it's 14 years since The Elder Scrolls got a mainline sequel, the Mafia franchise seems to have led a charmed life. Despite never excelling either critically or commercially it's been going since 2002, with a steady stream of sequels, remasters, and remakes. Who's asking for any of this we don't know, to the point where the game itself almost feels like a front for the mafia, but the series is nothing if not consistent. The Mafia games are often mistaken for GTA clones, but they only share a superficial similarity with Rockstar's epics. Although they do have the semblance of an open world there's nothing to really do in them and the story progression is entirely linear. Which isn't a criticism, but it is one easy way for newcomers to the franchise to become disappointed – although there are plenty of others too. These issues are clearly not unknown to developer Hangar 13, which incorporates some of original series creator Illusion Softworks. The Old Country sensibly does away with any pretence of an open world, but while its story does have some narrative weight it feels even less interactive than usual. Mafia 3 had the most expensive attempt at an open world, but that only made it even more irritating to play through, which is a shame as its storytelling is excellent and would've got far more attention if it had been part of a better game. The Old Country seems to acknowledge this by decreasing the level of interactivity to such a low level it's almost like the third person shooter equivalent of a visual novel. The best thing The Old Country has going for it is the excellent graphics and unusual setting of 1900s Sicily. However, while Mafia 3's story dealt with heady issues of racism and intolerance (it focused on the Black Mafia, rather than Italian Americans), The Old Country isn't quite so daring. To its credit, its examination of why good people are driven to do bad things is not superficial, as it shows how poverty, peer pressure, and toxic masculinity sends protagonist Enzo Favara into a spiral of criminality from which he never escapes. Literally, because while this is supposed to be interactive entertainment his fate is predestined the moment you start the game. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. It takes the game precious little time to start ripping off paying homage to characters from The Godfather. It's done with relatively subtlety – this isn't GTA 3 era Rockstar Games – but if you've any interest in The Old Country's there's little chance you haven't see the films and so the various pastiches stand out like a memberberry moment from Star Wars. In any case, Enzo joins the mob, gains a father figure, and falls in love with the Don's daughter. Oaths are taken, feuds are started, and crimes are committed. What makes The Old Country so strange though is that while the plot is by-the-number the writing and acting is very good, and well up to par with Mafia 3. It all takes a while to get going, and Enzo is so laconic it's difficult to empathise with him at first, but the characters are three-dimensional and believable. The problem is not so much that the story is cliché because it's knock-off of famous mafia movies, but because it feels overly reminiscent of previous Mafia games, which had already farmed those same films for inspiration. What you're left with is a copy of a copy and no matter how well acted it is, that's a serious issue. An even bigger problem is that as a video game, and particularly as a third person shooter, The Old Country is completely uninteresting. The gunplay is a mild improvement on Mafia: Definitive Edition but it's still completely unremarkable. The driving is worse, while the stealth sections, and instant fail situations, are the sort of thing that makes the beginning of Star Wars Outlaws seem like Metal Gear Solid. More Trending The only gameplay element that's above average is the enemy AI, which does a good job of trying to outflank you and is always on the offence. But that's nowhere near enough to excuse how dull and frustrating the game is for most of the time. The knife fights that end so many of the sections are also fun at first, although the excuses for why the various people don't just shoot you when they have the chance become ever more unlikely. In terms of presentation, The Old Country is absolutely top notch, from the graphics to the voice-acting, but as both a game and a story it struggles to keep your attention. And that's despite the fact that it's only around 12 hours long. Although, and we have to hand it to Take-Two on this one, its price does reflect that. Hangar 13 clearly enjoy what they do, and there must presumably be plenty of fans that do too. The game's lack of interactivity is not necessarily a problem, but the fact that it sacrifices so much of what being a video games is in order to tell a story that's been told many times before, including by the series itself, is just not a price worth paying. In Short: The most cinematic entry in the series so far but no matter how good the visuals or acting are, the story is clichéd and predictable, and the gameplay feels like barely an afterthought. Pros: The graphics are excellent, and the script and voice-acting are just as impressive. Surprisingly good enemy AI during combat. Cons: The plot is predictable and formulaic even compared to other Mafia games, while the characters remain largely uninteresting for far too long. Banal gameplay and an almost completely uninteractive game world. Score: 5/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: £44.99Publisher: 2KDeveloper: Hangar 13Release Date: 8th August 2025 Age Rating: 18 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: BioShock 4 is definitely happening 'without question' says Take-Two boss MORE: Extremely rare Xbox game is being sold for over £1,000 – do you own a copy? MORE: New Lego Batman game will be revealed at Gamescom claims rumour
Metro
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
EA refused to let BioWare make a Dragon Age: Origins remake claims developer
The failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard has put EA off from making any more entries in the series, including a remaster of the original. There's little point in us saying that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a really good action role-player, because its fate was sealed just weeks after release, when it failed to meet EA's expectations, following a disastrous marketing campaign. Despite being the first new entry in the series for a decade, there was no buzz at all around the game, from the moment it was first unveiled – with a trailer that many fans compared to Fortnite in terms of its visuals and sense of humour. Needless to say, that's not how anyone imagined the game's long-awaited comeback, with its failure leading EA to think it had been right all along and that the game should've been a live service title. What they've also apparently decided is that there's not going to be any remaster or remake of Dragon Age: Origins from 2009. It's often forgotten now, but BioWare were the creators of the first two Baldur's Gate games and Origins was, at the time, considered a spiritual sequel, and the closest thing there'd be to a Baldur's Gate 3 until this generation. In 2021, BioWare produced remasters of the entire Mass Effect trilogy, despite the sci-fi series always having sold less than Dragon Age, and it seemed to do very well. The success of Mass Effect Legendary Edition led many, including developers at BioWare, to imagine something similar could happen with Dragon Age, despite no one liking Dragon Age 2. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Unfortunately though, Mark Darrah, who was executive producer on the first three Dragon Age games, has revealed that while BioWare did pitch the idea of a remake to EA, they were refused the budget necessary, for that or a remaster. Darrah left BioWare in 2021, long before The Veilguard was released, but while speaking to YouTuber MrMattyPlays, he said that Mass Effect Legendary Edition was the first time in a long while that there was 'positivity and optimism around BioWare and their games.' More Trending He explains how, for unknown reasons, EA doesn't usually like remasters and because Dragon Age was made with its own propriety engine – unlike Mass Effect, which was made in Unreal Engine – it would be a considerably more difficult game to rework. Especially as the sequel used another completely different engine. That ruled out a trilogy remaster, but BioWare's plan was to find a fan mod team that could create a remake of Origins from scratch. However, that needed more money than EA was prepared to give, and it never happened. Ironically, the only hope for Dragon Age now is that the next Mass Effect, which BioWare has been working on for years, is a massive hit and somehow rejuvenates interest in its sister series. However, if it's received the same way Dragon Age: The Veilguard was, then things could be looking very grim for the veteran role-playing developer… Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Road Rash Is the best Sega Mega Drive racing game – Reader's Feature MORE: Phil Spencer favourite Hexen returns in new Nightdive remaster compilation MORE: Nintendo rips off Playdate console in patent for new Switch 2 accessory
Business Wire
10-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
EA to Release First Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Results on July 29, 2025
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) will release its financial results for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2025 after the close of market on Tuesday, July 29, 2025. In conjunction with this release, EA will host a conference call to review its financial results for the fiscal quarter, discuss its outlook for the future and may disclose other material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance. Listeners may access the conference call live via a dial-in number or audio webcast. Tuesday, July 29, 2025 2:00 pm Pacific Time (5:00 pm Eastern Time) Dial-in numbers: Domestic:(855) 761-5600; International:(646) 307-1097 Conference ID: 5939891 Webcast: EA's financial results release will be available after the close of market on July 29, 2025 on EA's website at A dial-in replay of the conference call will be available until August 5, 2025 at (800) 770-2030 (domestic) or (609) 800-9909 (international) using pin code 5939891. An audio webcast replay of the conference call will be available for one year at Updates regarding EA's business are available on EA's blog at About Electronic Arts Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers. In fiscal year 2025, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7.5 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS FC™, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL, EA SPORTS™ College Football, Need for Speed™, Dragon Age™, Titanfall™, Plants vs. Zombies™ and EA SPORTS F1 ®. More information about EA is available at EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS FC, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, The Sims, Dragon Age, Titanfall, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, FIFA and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements During the course of the presentation, Electronic Arts may make forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company that are subject to change. Statements including words such as 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'expect,' 'intend,' 'estimate,' 'plan,' 'predict,' 'seek,' 'goal,' 'will,' 'may,' 'likely,' 'should,' 'could' (and the negative of any of these terms), 'future' and similar expressions also identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and reflect management's current expectations. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include those discussed in Part II, Item 1A of Electronic Arts' latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q under the heading 'Risk Factors', as well as in other documents we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. We assume no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement for any reason, except as required by law.
Forbes
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
EA Is Completely Shutting Down ‘Anthem' And No, You Can't Get A Refund
Anthem One of the biggest misfires of the looter-shooter Destiny-copycat era was BioWare's Anthem, a game that sapped loads of time and resources away from the likes of Dragon Age and Mass Effect to produce a half-baked release. I kind of loved it. Anthem had so, so many problems, of course, and it was not shocking that eventually, EA killed it instead of tripling down with more major updates. But now, EA has ended things for a second time. For good, It has just been announced that Anthem servers will be shut down entirely on January 12, 2026, six months from now. The game has still been able to be played all this time, even since its 'death' in February 2021, but now? Nothing. You won't be able to play at all. This is sad because Anthem will always be a 'what could have been' for me with genuinely fun combat and moves toward fixing itself near the end. But this raises another modern-era games question about a title that people paid for but now will not be able to play at all. Despite single-player elements including an entire campaign you'd play solo, because the game needs a server connection, with those servers offline, you cannot play it. And no, no refunds will be issued for the game. The FAQ doesn't address this, but it's true, though it does have a section about how you can still spend your premium in-game currency until it's shut down! Hooray! Anthem FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder The timing of this comes alongside a big movement called Stop Killing Games, a petition that has racked up 1.1 million supporters and is about exactly this: games that players paid for being summarily deleted from existence. Here's the description: Right now this is largely based in Europe, and in some countries, progress has been made regarding the process in some places. This current movement is UK-focused, as a petition like this will be considered to be brought before Parliament if it gets 100,000 signatures. It has certainly gotten that. A separate movement to register complaints in France about The Crew being shut down is also part of this. This is not some moneymaking scheme; Stop Killing Games does not want funding, but a genuine consumer movement, and now we can add Anthem to a long list of games that are unplayable because they were designed as online-only, even with single-player elements, and have shut those servers down so they are inaccessible. And no, no refunds. That seems very wrong. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Los Angeles Times
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Inside the ‘Dragon Age' debacle that gutted EA's BioWare Studio
In early November, on the eve of the holiday shopping season, staffers at the video game studio BioWare were feeling optimistic. After an excruciating development cycle, they had finally released their latest game, 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard,' and the early reception was largely positive. The role-playing game was topping sales charts on Steam, and solid, if not spectacular, reviews were rolling in. But in the weeks that followed, the early buzz cooled as players delved deeper into the fantasy world, and some BioWare employees grew anxious. For months, everyone at the subsidiary of the video game publisher Electronic Arts had been under intense pressure. The studio's previous two games, 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' and 'Anthem,' had flopped, and there were rumors that if 'Dragon Age' underperformed, BioWare might become another of EA's many casualties. Not long after Christmas, the bad news surfaced. EA announced in January that the new 'Dragon Age' had reached only 1.5 million players, missing the company's expectations by 50%. The holiday performance of another recently released title, 'EA Sports FC 25,' was also subpar, compounding the problem. As a result of the struggling titles, EA Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson said, the company would be significantly lowering its sales forecast for the fiscal year ahead. EA's share price promptly plunged 18%. ''Dragon Age' had a high-quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played,' Wilson said on an earnings call. 'However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market.' Days after the sales revision, EA laid off a chunk of BioWare's staff at the studio's headquarters in Edmonton, Canada, and permanently transferred many of the remaining workers to other divisions. For the storied, 30-year-old game maker, it was a stunning fall that left many fans wondering how things had gone so haywire — and what might come next for the stricken studio. According to interviews with nearly two dozen people who worked on 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard,' there were several reasons behind its failure, including marketing misfires, poor word of mouth and a 10-year gap since the previous title. Above all, sources point to the rebooting of the product from a single-player game to a multiplayer one — and then back again — a switch that muddled development and inflated the title's budget, they say, ultimately setting the stage for EA's potentially unrealistic sales expectations. A spokesperson for EA declined to comment. The union between BioWare and EA started off with lofty aspirations. In 2007, EA executives announced they were acquiring BioWare and another gaming studio in a deal worth $860 million. The goal was to diversify their slate of games, which was heavy in sports titles, such as 'Madden NFL,' and light in the kind of adventure and role-playing games that BioWare was known for. Initially, it looked like a smart move thanks to a string of big hits. In 2014, BioWare released 'Dragon Age: Inquisition,' the third installment in a popular action series dropping players in a semi-open world full of magic, elves and fire-spewing dragons. The fantasy title won the Game of the Year award and sold 12 million copies, according to its executive producer Mark Darrah — a major validation of EA's diversification strategy. Before long, Darrah and Mike Laidlaw, the creative director, began kicking around ideas for the next 'Dragon Age' installment, aiming for a game that would be smaller in scope. But before much could get done, BioWare shifted the studio's focus to more pressing titles coming down the pike. In 2017, BioWare released 'Mass Effect: Andromeda,' the fourth installment in a big-budget action series set in space. Unlike its critically successful predecessors, the game received mediocre reviews and was widely mocked by fans. A few months after the disappointing release, the head of BioWare stepped down and was soon replaced by Microsoft's Casey Hudson, an alumnus of BioWare's early, formative years. Like much of the industry, EA executives were growing increasingly enamored of so-called live-service games, such as 'Destiny' and 'Overwatch,' in which players continue to engage with and spend money on a title for months or even years after its initial release. With EA aiming to make a splash in the fast-growing category, BioWare poured resources into 'Anthem,' a live-service shooter game that checked all the right boxes. One day in October 2017, Laidlaw summoned his colleagues into a conference room and pulled out a few pricey bottles of whiskey. The next 'Dragon Age' sequel, he told the room, would also be pivoting to an online, live-service game — a decision from above that he disagreed with. He was resigning from the studio. The assembled staff stayed late through the night, drinking and reminiscing about the franchise they loved. 'I wish that pivot had never occurred,' Darrah would later recount on YouTube. 'EA said, 'Make this a live service.' We said, 'We don't know how to do that. We should basically start the project over.'' Former art director Matt Goldman replaced Laidlaw as creative director, and with a tiny team began pushing ahead on a new multiplayer version of 'Dragon Age' while everyone else helped to finish 'Anthem,' which was struggling to coalesce. Goldman pushed for a 'pulpy,' more lighthearted tone than previous entries, which suited an online game but was a drastic departure from the dark, dynamic stories that fans loved in the fantasy series. In February 2019, BioWare released 'Anthem.' Reviews were scathing, calling the game tedious and convoluted. Fans were similarly displeased. On social media, players demanded to know why a studio renowned for beloved stories and characters had made an online shooter with a scattershot narrative. In the wake of BioWare's second consecutive flop, the multiplayer version of 'Dragon Age' continued to take shape. While the previous games in the franchise had featured tactical combat, this one would be all action. Instead of quests that players would experience only once, it would be full of missions that could be replayed repeatedly with friends and strangers. Important characters couldn't die because they had to persist for multiple players across never-ending gameplay. As the game evolved over the next two years, the failure of 'Anthem' hovered over the studio. Were they making the same mistakes? Some BioWare employees scoffed that they were simply building ''Anthem' with dragons.' Throughout 2020, the pandemic disrupted the game's already fraught development. In December, Hudson, the head of the studio, and Darrah, the head of the franchise, resigned. Shortly thereafter, Gary McKay, BioWare's new studio head, revealed yet another shift in strategy. Moving forward, the next 'Dragon Age' would no longer be multiplayer. 'We were thinking, 'Does this make sense, does this play into our strengths, or is this going to be another challenge we have to face?'' McKay told Bloomberg News. 'No, we need to get back to what we're really great at.' In theory, the reversion back to the series' tried-and-true, single-player format should have been welcome news inside BioWare. But there was a catch. Typically, this kind of pivot would be coupled with a reset and a period of pre-production allowing the designers to formulate a new vision for the game. Instead, the team was asked to change the game's fundamental structure and recast the entire story on the fly, according to people familiar with the new marching orders. They were given a year and a half to finish and told to aim for as wide a market as possible. This strict deadline became a recurring problem. The development team would make decisions believing that they had less than a year to release the game, which severely limited the stories they could tell and the world they could build. Then the title would inevitably be delayed a few months, at which point they'd be stuck with those old decisions with no chance to stop and reevaluate what was working. At the end of 2022, amid continually dizzying leadership changes, the studio started distributing an 'alpha' build of 'Dragon Age' to get feedback internally and from outside playtesters. According to people familiar with the process, the reactions were concerning. The game's biggest problem, early players agreed, was a lack of satisfying choices and consequences. Previous BioWare titles had presented players with gut-wrenching decisions. Which allies to save? Which factions to spare? Which enemies to slay? Such dilemmas made fans feel like they were shaping the narrative — historically, a big draw for many BioWare games. But the multiplayer roots of 'Dragon Age' limited such choices, according to people familiar with the development. BioWare delayed the game's release again while the team shoehorned in a few major decisions, such as which of two cities to save from a dragon attack. But because most of the parameters were already well established, the designers struggled to pair the newly retrofitted choices for players with meaningful consequences downstream. In 2023, to help finish game, BioWare brought in a second, internal team, which was working on the next 'Mass Effect.' For decades there'd been tension between the two well-established camps, known for their starkly divergent ways of doing things. BioWare developers like to joke that the 'Dragon Age' crew was like a pirate ship, meandering and sometimes traveling off course but eventually reaching the port. In contrast, the 'Mass Effect' group was called the USS Enterprise, after the 'Star Trek' ship, because commands were issued straight from the top and executed zealously. As the 'Mass Effect' directors took control, they scoffed that the 'Dragon Age' squad had been doing a shoddy job and began excluding their leaders from pivotal meetings, according to people familiar with the internal friction. Over time, the 'Mass Effect' team went on to overhaul parts of the game and design a number of additional scenes, including a rich, emotional finale that players loved. But even changes that appeared to improve the game stoked the simmering rancor inside BioWare, infuriating 'Dragon Age' leaders who had been told they didn't have the budget for such big, ambitious swings. 'It always seemed that, when the 'Mass Effect' team made its demands in meetings with EA regarding the resources it needed, it got its way,' said David Gaider, a former lead writer on the 'Dragon Age' franchise who left before development of the new game started. 'But 'Dragon Age' always had to fight against headwinds.' Early testers and 'Mass Effect' leads complained about the game's snarky tone — a style of video game storytelling, once ascendant, that was quickly falling out of fashion in pop culture but had been part of Goldman's vision for the multiplayer game. Worried that 'Dragon Age' could face the same outcome as 'Forspoken' — a recent title that had been hammered over its impertinent banter — BioWare leaders ordered a belated rewrite of the game's dialogue to make it sound more serious. (In the end, the resulting tonal inconsistencies would only add to the game's poor reception with fans.) A mass layoff at BioWare and a mandate to work overtime depleted morale while a voice actors' strike limited the writers' ability to revise the dialogue and create new scenes. An initial trailer made the next 'Dragon Age' seem more like 'Fortnite' than a dark fantasy role-playing game, triggering concerns that EA didn't know how to market the game. When 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard' finally premiered on Halloween after many internal delays, some staff members thought there was a lot to like, including the game's new combat system. But players were less impressed, and sales sputtered. 'The reactions of the fan base are mixed, to put it gently,' said Caitie, a popular 'Dragon Age' YouTuber. 'Some, like myself, adore it for various reasons. Others feel utterly betrayed by certain design choices.' Following the layoffs and staff reassignments at BioWare earlier in the year, a small team of a few dozen employees is working on the next 'Mass Effect.' After three high-profile failures in a row, questions linger about EA's commitment to the studio. In May, the company relabeled its Edmonton headquarters from a BioWare office to a hub for all EA staff in the area. Historically, BioWare has never been the most important studio at EA, which generates more than $7 billion in annual revenue largely from its sports games and shooters. Depending on the timing of its launches, BioWare typically accounts for just 5% of EA's annual bookings, according to estimates by Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co. Even so, there may be strategic reasons for EA to keep supporting BioWare. Single-player role-playing games are expensive to make but can lead to huge windfalls when successful, as demonstrated by recent hits such as 'Cyberpunk 2077,' 'Elden Ring' and 'Baldur's Gate 3.' In order to grow, EA needs more than just sports franchises, said TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz. Trying to fix its fantasy-focused studio may be easier than starting something new. 'That said, if they shuttered the doors tomorrow I wouldn't be totally surprised,' Creutz added. 'It has been over a decade since they produced a hit.' Schreier writes for Bloomberg.
