Anthem taught Bioware it should focus on what it’s good at, Dragon Age: The Veilguard director says

Anthem taught Bioware that it should play to its strengths, according to Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s creative director.

In a new interview with Edge magazine (via 80 Level), John Epler explained that while he was happy with many aspects of Anthem, he feels that making an online multiplayer game wasn’t playing to Bioware’s strengths.

“We’re a studio that has always been built around digging deep on storytelling and roleplaying,” Epler explained.

“I’m proud of a lot of things on Anthem – I was on that project for a year and a half. But at the end of the day, we were building a game focused on something we were not necessarily as proficient at.”

Epler said that many of the Bioware team joined because they specialised in solo adventures, and as a result they weren’t able to deliver their best with Anthem.

“For me and for the team, the biggest lesson was to know what you’re good at and then double down on it,” he said.

“Don’t spread yourselves too thin. Don’t try to do a bunch of different things you don’t have the expertise to do. A lot of the people on this team came here to build a story-focused, single-player RPG.”

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is due for release later this year, with a release date still to be announced.

Further reading

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Preview: Dragon Age: The Veilguard could be Bioware back at its best

Ignore the Xbox Showcase trailer, Bioware is back with a bang

In a hands-on preview back in June, we said The Veilguard could be BioWare back at its best.

“There was some understandable sour faces following Dragon Age’s showing at the Xbox Game Showcase, but we’re very happy to say that they are unfounded,” we wrote.

“Our demo was exciting, and engaging and made us desperate to see the next 50 to 100 hours of game. No Guardians of the Galaxy dialogue, no weird versions of pop classics, just a hulking Bioware RPG, something that’s been sadly missing in gaming for too long.”