Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider expressed doubt regarding the fantasy series' future under publisher EA's ownership, while also outlining his vision for a potential Dragon Age 5. Gaider, who was a BioWare veteran of 20 years and led writing on the first three Dragon Age games, believes a return for the franchise is improbable given the publisher's current focus.
BioWare's recent release, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, launched in late 2024 to a mixed reception. The aftermath of its development led to BioWare's restructuring, with staff reassigned to pre-production for the next Mass Effect title. The publisher has not provided a timeline for Mass Effect 5, but it is understood to be several years away. With BioWare's current sole focus on Mass Effect, any new Dragon Age title appears unlikely until after the next Mass Effect game has been released.
Gaider suggested that if he were given the opportunity to revive the Dragon Age franchise, he would aim to return to its core appeal. "I do like a challenge," Gaider told PC Gamer. "So if, out of some weird alignment of the stars, somebody handed the Dragon Age franchise back to me and said, 'Breathe the life back into this baby', that'd be a tough one, but I think that'd be an interesting thing to do."
His proposed direction for a new installment would be "somewhere dark and dangerous, and do things that will make people upset. I think that's what I would want to do with it." This approach contrasts with some of the criticisms leveled against The Veilguard, which included feedback on its writing and character portrayals.
Gaider noted that during his tenure at BioWare, Dragon Age projects were consistently close to being shelved. "Throughout the entire time I was there, we were always one breath away from the project being shelved. The thing that happened is that we kept releasing games, and it would sell much better than they thought it should, and it kept surprising them," he stated. However, The Veilguard did not meet EA's commercial expectations, reaching 1.5 million players in its first three months, which was half of the publisher's target. This performance stands in contrast to Dragon Age: Inquisition, which became BioWare's best-selling game with 12 million units sold.
While EA has not officially commented on the future of the Dragon Age series, senior writer Sheryl Chee, who moved from BioWare to work on Iron Man at Motive, previously suggested that the franchise would live on through its community via fan creations, stating that "DA isn't dead because it's yours now."