The Veilguard Secures an Unexpected Award

Sure, here we go:

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Okay, so let’s talk about this “Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance” podcast winning big at Tribeca. Yeah, it snagged the Best Audio/Podcast Award, but the whole thing is kinda a mixed bag. I mean, great for the podcast, but the game itself—Dragon Age: The Veilguard? Not so much. EA wasn’t thrilled; it just didn’t click with most players and came up short.

Last year, when this game finally rolled out after, what, a decade? Folks were saying decent stuff. Scored 80 on OpenCritic, which isn’t shabby. But then, bam!—some people weren’t vibing with parts of the story. Felt like the plot just didn’t hit the mark for a bunch of gamers and critics. Weird, right? Maybe it was the timing or maybe something else entirely. Who knows.

Quick side note: there’s this image floating around of a main character, Rook. Supposed to be unique compared to previous heroes, but I’ll be honest, sometimes these claims just sound the same. Anyway—wait, no—back to the podcast. So eight episodes, not penned by BioWare’s top peeps, but John Epler had a say in it. He was the creative director for the game before he bolted to Full Circle Studio—an EA sibling project thing.

This award’s cool and all, but it feels a bit like an “Oh, um, thanks?” moment after the game flopped earlier this year. EA spilled the beans: 1.5 million players isn’t hitting their dream numbers. Only half of what they hoped. Tough break, right?

Follow-up: post-flop, people at BioWare got the dreaded pink slip. Team on this project? Poof, gone. Some folks moved over to start cooking up the next Mass Effect or other stuff by EA. Can’t help but wonder what really went down behind the scenes. Meanwhile, rumors floating everywhere—sources chatting up Jason Schreier about The Veilguard’s messy phase. Two reboots! Team drama between Dragon Age folks and Mass Effect crew lurking in the shadows.

Anyway, the future of BioWare’s a question mark, with the next Mass Effect still being a big mystery without a release date. Guess we’ll see, won’t we?