According to a new report, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf publisher Electronic Arts is “pretty confident” about a 2024 release date for the game. This release window has been rumored for a while and was even mentioned on an EA veteran’s LinkedIn profile, but with the company undergoing layoffs last week, fans wondered if Dreadwolf will be pushed out of 2024 or not.

EA confident about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf release date window despite recent layoffs

The aforementioned update comes from journalist and insider Jeff Grubb, who said during his latest Game Mess podcast that although there are no guarentees that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will be out this year, EA thinks developer Bioware will manage a 2024 release window. As for when we’ll actually see the game, Grubb recons that it’ll be shown off sometime in the summer.

“It will be released this year, last I heard,” Grubb said. “They’re pretty confident about that. Doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee; could slip, but right now — internally — they expect to release it later this year.”

Grubb added that the real question is when Bioware will actually show Dreadwolf off, and that there’s no word on that yet.

Announcing its layoffs, EA said that it wants to focus on its own IPs going forward.

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Publisher Electronic Arts has announced another round of layoffs and restructuring, as a consequence of which Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars first-person shooter has been canceled. The company is also moving away from games based on licensed IP, choosing instead to focus on its own IP and sports franchises. As part of the restructuring process, Battlefield studio Ridgeline Games is also shutting down.

Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi games are safe

In a press release, EA executive Laura Miele said that Respawn’s Star Wars FPS was in early development, and moving away from the project wasn’t an easy decision to make. However, the publisher determined that the Jedi series and “new projects based on our owned brands,” like Apex Legends, is the “right place to focus.”

As for Ridgeline Games, the recently-established developer was led by Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto. Interestingly, Lehto departed Ridgeline earlier this week but appears to have had no knowledge of EA’s plans. He tweeted that the news of Ridgeline’s closure as EA lays off nearly 700 employees is a “gut punch.”

Ridgeline was working on the next Battlefield’s campaign. The game’s development is “making meaningful progress,” according to EA.

“It’s not lost on me that these changes are more than words on a page; they directly impact the work you do every day and, in some cases, mean we are eliminating roles and saying goodbye to talented colleagues,” Miele wrote. “I will never lose sight of the human impact of these decisions and know that change and disruption aren’t easy.”

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A former Immortals of Aveum developer has said that the game’s sales flopped because it was an “awful” idea in today’s market. Developed by Ascendant Studios and published by Electronic Arts, the single-player first-person shooter released on current-gen platforms in August 2023, and bombed commercially.

What went wrong with Immortals of Aveum sales?

As part of a comprehensive, eye-opening feature regarding the widespread ongoing layoffs in the games industry, IGN spoke to a number of former and current developers across various studios to get some insight. A former Ascendant Studios employee revealed that the game’s budget was a whopping $125 million, and suggested that it was doomed to fail because “trying to make a AAA single-player shooter in today’s market was a truly awful idea, especially since it was a new IP that was also trying to leverage Unreal Engine 5.”

While Immortals of Aveum had a promising premise, its execution left much to be desired and it also received some criticism for technical issues. According to the former dev, “Immortals was massively overscoped” for a development studio’s debut project, and what ended up releasing was “a bloated, repetitive campaign that was far too long.”

Some have taken issue with the suggestion that AAA single-player shooters don’t do well in today’s market, arguing that Immortals of Aveum simply wasn’t up to the mark.

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Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Sports might be making FIFA soccer games going forward. This speculation comes from a cryptic tweet by a known insider, who appears to hint that 2K has benefitted from the divorce between FIFA organization and previous game publisher Electronic Arts.

Take-Two previously said it had no plans to discuss FIFA games following EA split

The tweet comes from none other than Twitter user Kurakasis, who has a pretty good track record when it comes to leaks. The tease in question can be seen below.

If what Kurakasis is hinting is true, this won’t come as a surprise considering many expected Take-Two to snap up the license. CEO Strauss Zelnick was quizzed about this by Take-Two shareholders in 2022, in response to which he said that at the time he had no plans to enter discussions regarding FIFA games.

Take-Two has a major sports label in its 2K subsidiary, which covers a wide variety of sports sans soccer. EA moved on without FIFA with its own brand of soccer and Konami has eFootball (formerly Pro Evolution Soccer). It makes sense for 2K to delve into soccer with FIFA. That said, take this with a grain of salt until official confirmation.

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Respawn Entertainment has rolled out an update for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, adding new features nearly nine months on. Patch 8 adds a new high contrast mode, audio ping functionality, and new slow motion presets.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update 8 (January 2024) patch notes

Complete patch notes courtesy of Electronic Arts are as follows:

• A new high contrast mode allows players to desaturate the environment and use colors specifically for narrative and gameplay elements, making them stand out more.
• A new audio ping functionality allows players to both passively and actively ping the environment, giving the ability to echolocate objects and interactable elements nearby.
• This update includes additional slow motion presets. With this new implementation players can toggle between both their own custom value and three new presets.
  • The presets are set at 30%, 50% and 75% and available through the shortcut menu. This will allow users to switch between multiple different slow motion values, and not just the custom value and the default game speed.
• This patch also incorporates some fixes for performance and stability across all platforms.

Respawn didn’t elaborate on the additional performance and stability fixes, but did say that it’s eager to continue hearing feedback from players.

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The highly anticipated crossover between Apex Legends and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is officially here, with Electronic Arts sharing a new trailer for the event and what will be included.

The crossover event is set to begin on January 9, 2024, and will include new cosmetics, iconic skins, and more all themed around the world of Final Fantasy VII. In total, there will be 36 new items added into the game inspired by FF7, with iconic skins for both Horizon and Newcastle as well as sticker sets and more.

Check out the trailer for the crossover below:

According to a blog post on EA’s website, the 36 items will be rewarded randomly via event packs, with no duplicates being given. The mythic item for the event is a Buster Sword cosmetic for the game’s R5 weapon.

Six iconic legend skins will also be available for direct purchase in the game, including skins that make Apex Legends characters look like some of the more iconic characters in Final Fantasy VII.

As far as gameplay goes, the world of Apex will also be introduced to Materia in the form of a new BR Takeover. This mode will see a Buster Sword R2R5 placed in the game, with players able to fight for and pick up the weapon and wield it to try and win. You can also build up meter to use a Limit Break ability with the sword, and even collect Materia, which will give players increased effects and other bonuses.

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Battlefield 2042‘s Season 6 is getting a holiday-themed update, with developer DICE announcing Holiday Protocol, a new event that will run through the new year.

The new event is set to arrive in the game on December 12, 2024, and will run through January 9, 2024. It will be part of the ongoing Season 6: Dark Creations that was added into the game earlier this year, and will include four weeks of holiday-themed content and rewards.

New modes, cosmetic items arriving in event

The first week will see the inclusion of the Rapid Strike game mode on five different maps, and include a candy cane weapon charm and special character skin. The second week is set to include a new game mode, called “Attack of the Elves,” which is a 4 vs. 28 mode that pits a group of four against 28 “elves,” who will try to take down enemies to win.

Alongside the new modes, other rewards are planned for the event, including vehicle and weapon skins, character outfits, and more. The full roadmap for the event can be seen below:

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Immortals of Aveum director Bret Robbins thinks that the game may be added to subscription services like PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass in order to expand its player base. Developed by Ascendant Studios and published by Electronic Arts in September, Immortals of Aveum received mixed reviews and sold poorly.

Immortals of Aveum could land on PS Plus “maybe sooner than later”

In an interview with Xbox Expansion Pass, Robbins said that he doesn’t fully grasp the economics of subscription services and can’t say whether Immortals of Aveum would have benefitted from releasing on PS Plus or Game Pass. However, he’s not opposed to the idea of expanding the game’s audience and believes that EA may strike a deal to that end “maybe sooner than later.”

Lukewarm reception aside, Immortals of Aveum launched in a busy period of game releases and quickly flew under the radar. The first-person magic shooter came with an interesting premise, but its execution left a great deal to be desired.

Following a poor commercial and critical response, Ascendant Studios underwent layoffs — a period Robbins says was very tough for him, adding that it’s an unfortunate consequence of not meeting targets for an independent studio.

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Dragon Age: Dreadwolf‘s release date window may have been leaked by none other than Electronic Arts’ own employee. Senior cinematic animator Kevin Scott listed the release window on his LinkedIn profile, which has since been updated. According to Scott, the game will be released sometime in 2024.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf release date “leak” seemingly corroborates previous report

As spotted by Twitter user bogorad222, Scott — a 7-year EA veteran — mentions on his LinkedIn profile that he animated gameplay characters using motion capture and “hand-keyed” animation for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, which is set for release in 2024. As soon as screenshots of Scott’s profile made rounds, he updated it to remove the release window for not only Dreadwolf but also EA Sports College Football (also listed for 2024 release).

You can view the original version below:

Scott may have erred in listing a release window on his profile and may not be privy to this information. However, known insider Tom Henderson claimed back in February that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf won’t be released until 2024. Considering 2023 is almost over, next year is certainly the earliest we’ll see the game.

That said, Bioware recently underwent a number of layoffs and ended up losing quite a few Dragon Age: Dreadwolf developers in the process. Reports have since emerged that the game’s production has been affected, possibly leading to delays.

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Update: The final, 20-second long teaser is officially out, which you can see below:

Bioware is celebrating N7 Day on Tuesday and has released a few cryptic teasers for its new Mass Effect game.

During this year’s annual N7 Day celebration — something that occurs every November 7, which Bioware usually commemorates with sales and other teases — fans noticed that a binary code message was hidden on EA’s blog post about the 2023 N7 Day.

Two new teasers, with potentially more planned

This led users to translate the code, which read “Epsilon,” and to finding a landing page that featured a very brief teaser of a character walking down a hallway. Since then, a second teaser has been added to the site, showing more of the unknown character in what looks to be an N7-themed outfit.

Both videos (titled “Epsilon” and “Defiance”) are only about six seconds long and don’t give away too much information. Alongside the videos, a description text was added to the site, with references to last year’s N7 Day teaser, which was a message from Mass Effect’s Liara T’Soni.

As of the time of this writing, a new countdown on the page has appeared, counting down to about an hour from now, where presumably a new piece of information will release. As it stands, not too much is known about the new Mass Effect game, with Bioware having announced it way back in 2020 in a surprise trailer.

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