Former Dragon Age Boss Says The Veilguard Devs Ignored “Lots” of Advice, Making It a “Frustrating Experience”

Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Mark Darrah’s Frustrating Consulting Experience

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is one of the most polarizing releases in the beloved RPG series’ history. Despite receiving largely positive reviews, its writing and story have become particularly contentious topics among fans.

If former series boss Mark Darrah were to identify a reason—and did so with no humility—he might say it was because he left developer BioWare in 2021 and served only as a freelance consultant during the final stretch of The Veilguard’s development. Because he was not one of the project leads, the developers were free to disregard his suggestions. According to Darrah, they frequently did.

Darrah’s Recommendations Were Often Ignored

“There were lots of things that I made recommendations on that were not listened to,” Darrah told Eldorado.gg. “And in fact, in some cases, I would make a recommendation, it was ignored, and then a different group that was also helping would make the same recommendation, and then it was listened to. So it was definitely a frustrating experience for me.”

Darrah previously attributed the downfall of Dragon Age to BioWare’s preference for “simpler” and “more accessible” RPGs, which he said prevented the series from achieving a major success comparable to Baldur’s Gate 3.

BioWare Franchises Return to the Spotlight

Dragon Age, along with Mass Effect and other BioWare franchises, has returned to the news following EA’s abrupt closure of the studio and the cancellation of Mass Effect 5.

Before assigning blame to any single game, developer, or team within BioWare, it is worth noting EA’s recently completed $55 billion leveraged buyout by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), private equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.

Dragon Age Veteran Responds to The Veilguard’s Critics

“The majority of people on a team the size of Veilguard’s had little or no say in the things you disliked about it.”