Is Dragon Age: The Veilguard on Xbox?

The new Dragon Age comes to Xbox at launch

From physics-driven action titles like Dragon's Dogma 2 to Atlus' Persona-like Metaphor: ReFantazio and everything between, 2024 has been a great year for players who love roleplaying adventures. What could be another of the year's best RPGs, though, is still on the way — and it's not far off. The game I'm referring to, of course, is Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which is slated to drop in just a few short weeks on October 31, 2024.

That Halloween release date officially makes it the spookiest game launch of the year, but it's also one of the most highly anticipated. After all, it's a direct follow-up to the award-winning 2014 RPG Dragon Age: Inquisition that's been a decade in the making, and BioWare's Dragon Age franchise itself is one of Electronic Arts' biggest properties. As a result, it's not surprising that tons of gamers are hyped to jump into the single player fantasy adventure, and it's also not surprising that many of those fans are hopeful the game will come out on Xbox consoles.

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If you're one of them, I've got good news for you: Dragon Age: The Veilguard is officially launching on Xbox Series X|S systems when it comes out on October 31, and is available to preorder now for $69.99 (check out our Dragon Age: The Veilguard preorder guide for more info). Note that while the game won't be on Xbox Game Pass, it is expected to eventually be playable through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate since it will likely come to the regular tier of EA Play in the future — a service that Game Pass Ultimate gives you access to. Another thing to keep in mind is that the game will not be playable on last-gen consoles like the Xbox One, Xbox One S, or Xbox One X.

Other Dragon Age: The Veilguard platforms

Xbox players will be happy to know that you'll be able to play Dragon Age: The Veilguard on Microsoft's consoles, but where else will you be able to embark on your adventure to save Thedas? At launch, the game will also be available on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC in addition to Xbox Series X|S, with the PC version purchasable on a couple different storefronts. Namely, you can get it on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Electronic Arts' EA app launcher.

BioWare's new RPG is also launching on NVIDIA's GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, with "free" copies offered to new and existing members that buy six months of GeForce NOW Ultimate for $99.99. This is a great way to get The Veilguard without spending money on it directly if you like playing games via streaming services, though NVIDIA is taking this offer off the table after October 30. If you like the sound of it, take advantage of it while you can. Another service that'll give you day one access is the Xbox Game Pass-like $16.99/month EA Play Pro that's exclusive to PC.

If the GeForce NOW or EA Play Pro routes aren't for you, you'll have to pay $59.99 for the fantasy epic on Steam, the Epic Games Store, or the EA app — a full $10 less expensive than what it costs on Xbox and PlayStation. Along with two different options for using subscriptions, that lower MSRP makes the PC edition of Dragon Age: The Veilguard the best one to get if you've got a rig that meets its PC system requirements (or a strong and stable enough internet connection to enjoy GeForce NOW streams smoothly).

• PC gaming handhelds like Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Legion Go have become extremely popular in the last few years.
• There has also been speculation that an Xbox handheld is in the works.
• In a tweet, Redherring32 recently posted a portable Xbox PC handheld that they built.
• It features a 9-inch 480p display and 100W USB-C charging. Redherring32 plans to add WiFi 6 and wireless Xbox Live functionality in the future.

Handheld gaming has long been a popular method for enjoying video games, but it was only with the release of the Nintendo Switch and shortly thereafter with the Steam Deck that we really started to see a significant shift of AAA titles on these portable devices. Since then, we've seen additional PC gaming handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go also enter the market to varying degrees of success. With this new focus on the on-the-go experience, many people have wondered if Xbox will create its own Xbox handheld sometime soon. Our own Jez Corden even wrote about how An 'Xbox handheld' isn't just likely. For Microsoft, it's absolutely necessary.

Ahead of any actual gaming handhelds revealed by Xbox or Microsoft, X user (formerly Twitter), @Redherring32 tweeted a post showing off an Xbox gaming handheld they had built, and I'm very impressed by it.

According to @Redherring32, this portable Xbox device features a 9-inch 480p display with pure digital video/audio, and 100W USB C charging. They also have plans to add WiFi 6 in order to make Xbox Live possible. To create this Xbox dream device, Redherring "trimmed [an] original Xbox motherboard," making it so the device can play all games within the Xbox library. Apparently, this process took over four months since "nobody had ever tried it before," and it required "reverse engineering nearly the entire board" while using "12! (sic) different fully custom PCBs." That's really quite an impressive feat and something that would have taken a lot of time and effort.

As part of their post, Redherring32 also provided links to the PCBs on Github, as well as the Xbox trimming guide for anyone interested in checking those out.

An official Xbox gaming handheld seems very likely

It's pretty clear that many people are interested in getting a portable Xbox gaming device, but is an official Xbox handheld in the cards?

While consoles and traditional PCs continue to be popular, it seems likely that our shift toward handheld gaming will only grow as time goes on. Nintendo opened up the industry's eyes when it released the hybrid Switch, which can not only play the company's AAA games while docked to a TV in the standard way but can also be taken on the go and played anywhere. That convenience is something we're likely going to continue to see as Xbox and PlayStation continue to release hardware.

And honestly, I'll be very surprised if Xbox isn't already deep into planning some kind of Xbox gaming handheld. After all, last year in an exclusive interview with our own Jez Corden, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer previously said, "I think about those handheld PCs, almost extensions of my Xbox console." I myself have an ROG Ally and a Legion Go, which I frequently use to access the Xbox app and play my Xbox Game Pass games. So, in that way, it really does feel like I'm playing an Xbox console on the go at times.

Of course, during that same interview, Spencer also explained that he was traveling with his Legion Go, and that in and of itself tells me that he already keeping handhelds in mind and planning for what Xbox might do within that arena in the future.

I won't be at all surprised if one of the next devices announced by Microsoft/Xbox is a gaming handheld. For all our sakes, I hope it's one that incorporates a handheld-tailored OS similar to Steam Deck's SteamOS, which is currently far easier to navigate than Windows 11 on handhelds. Depending on how the company goes about it, Microsoft could even make it so that Windows 11 is easier to navigate on handhelds with a Windows 8-style tile design. We'll have to wait and see.

• Just over six months since the first season of Amazon's Fallout TV show debuted in April, one of its stars has confirmed that Season 2 will begin filming soon.
• Specifically, actress Leslie Uggams recently stated in an interview that the second season is scheduled to start filming in November.
• Leslie Uggams plays Betty Pearson, one of Season 1's most prominent characters who temporarily serves as Vault 33's Overseer. Though outwardly kind, viewers eventually learn there's a dark side to her backstory, and it seemingly lines up with Uggams' comment that "Betty's got some things up her sleeve" for the second season.
• Since Season 1 came out two years after filming for it started, it's reasonable to guess Season 2 will come out in late 2026. However, early 2026 or even late 2025 are plausible given that many of the costumes, props, and sets made for the first season can presumably be reused.

Six months after the explosive debut of the first season of the Fallout TV show that's based on the acclaimed RPG series, we finally know when Season 2 will begin filming — and according to the actress behind one of its major characters, it's happening soon.

The news comes from a new Screen Rant report, in which the publication noted that during a New York Comic Con interview about the recently released film Deadpool & Wolverine, actress Leslie Uggams briefly discussed Amazon's Fallout show. In addition to talking about the quality of the series itself and her role as Betty Pearson, Uggams also directly confirmed that filming is scheduled to begin next month.

"That is an amazing, amazing show. I am with the Vault People, so I didn't get to see what the Earth people were doing. So when it came on, I was blown away. But Betty's got some things up her sleeve. Just stay tuned," Uggams said, hinting that her character is hiding something or has secret plans that could have a major impact on the events of Season 2. "We start November. I'm excited about it," she added.

Betty Pearson — a former Overseer of Vault 33 that takes office once again during the events of Season 1 — is one of the show's more enigmatic characters, and arguably one of its best outside of the main cast of Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), and Maximus (Aaron Moten). I won't spoil anything specific here, but when Lucy's brother Norm MacLean (Moisés Arias) starts investigating Vault 33 and its neighboring Vaults, he learns something significant about her, and she has some eyebrow-raising reactions to some of his comments that suggest there's more to her pleasant demeanor than she lets on.

It's no surprise, then, that she likely has an ace in the hole or a scheme she's working to carry out. What is surprising, though, is that Fallout Season 2 is already about to start filming even though it's only been just over half a year since the show's April 10 premiere. That means the second season's script and pre-production work was completed in that time, which is a pretty quick turnaround.

Shoots for Season 1 began two years before its debut in July 2022, so if Season 2 follows a similar schedule, it may not come out until around fall 2026. With that said, an earlier release date is entirely possible, especially since the show's production staff now have experience working on it and can presumably reuse many of the costumes, props, and sets from the first season. Many applauded the showrunners' decision to largely use practical assets instead of tons of computer-generated imagery (CGI), and that choice may help accelerate production moving forward.

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Of course, Season 2 will undoubtedly require the creation of plenty of new set pieces too, so between the time needed for that and the filming and editing process itself, it's clear that the next act of this new Fallout story is still quite a ways off. I'd say early 2026 is a pretty reasonable guess, but we may see Amazon and Bethesda push for a late 2025 release, too. After all, the show won two Emmy Awards and reached over 100 million viewers on Prime Video earlier this month.

As for the content of Season 2, it's been all but confirmed that at least part of the story will move to the Mojave Wasteland and the city of New Vegas, both of which were the setting of the beloved 2010 title Fallout: New Vegas. The show — set 15 years after New Vegas' events — will follow up on "one of the myriad canon endings" of the game, as well as Season 1's many different cliffhangers.

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Something worth noting is that all of the Fallout games are available to play on Microsoft's gaming subscription service Xbox Game Pass, with the PC-only Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics exclusively available on PC Game Pass (Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes access to every Fallout game available on both Xbox and PC). Many of them are some of the best Xbox games and best PC games I've ever played, and even the ones I don't love like Fallout 76 are still at least worth checking out.

• Crimson Desert is an upcoming action adventure title from Korea-based Pearl Abyss, and it looks pretty damn great.
• The game has been announced for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC, although there's another timeline where Xbox would be excluded.
• A recent session at Kiwoom Securities in Korea with Pearl Abyss revealed that PlayStation had attempted to lock Xbox out of Crimson Desert, in much the same way it did with games like Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy 7, and more.
• Microsoft has seen some of its own third-party exclusivity deals bear fruit for Xboxo in recent years, with Q1 viral-hit Palworld, and soon, STALKER 2, set to release in November.

On paper, 2024 looked like it might have been a light year for PlayStation.

With few first-party titles on the docket, 2024 looked as though the lion's share of first-party exclusive game launches would land for Xbox Series X|S instead in the great battle of the high-end consoles. The reality, however, hasn't exactly panned out that way. Thanks to some savvy timed exclusivity deals across games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Silent Hill 2, Black Myth Wukong, and Stellar Blade, PlayStation was still able to boast an incredibly strong line-up of exclusive titles for its core fans. PlayStation's Concord might have been a uniquely spectacular failure, but Helldivers 2 and Astrobot have more than made up for it. Conversely, Xbox first-party efforts like Hellblade 2 and Starfield: Shattered Space launched to mixed opinions, while other games like ARA: History Untold have skipped Xbox altogether so far. Microsoft has also seen other titles like Avowed and Towerborne pick up delays into 2025. Xbox has had its own wins too, though, but more on that in a minute.

Indeed, why are we talking about all of this? The timed exclusivity discourse heated up again today, with news that another major third-party title might have been gobbled up by PlayStation to the detriment of Xbox customers.

Korea-based financial reporter 에이치피엔스 shared details on the session with Pearl Abyss (via Knoebel), which revealed some details about how Sony attempted to lock Xbox customers out of access to hotly anticipated Crimson Desert, while also scooping up the PC distribution rights in the process. The reporter has since offered their own English translation of the proceedings, which you can read below.

"We [Pearl Abyss] spent a lot of time considering our release strategy. Sony has essentially seen the entire game and expressed interest in publishing it, offering several favorable terms. If we had gone with Sony as a publisher, the game would have been exclusive to PlayStation for a year, with no release on Xbox, and PC distribution rights would also belong to Sony. Despite these restrictions, Sony's marketing power and various unique incentives were appealing. However, after evaluating the expected sales and revenue-sharing structure, we decided that self-publishing would be more beneficial. It's 99% certain that we will publish the game ourselves.

Recently, Stellar Blade signed an exclusive deal with Sony, but that was mainly because they didn't have the necessary publishing team, unlike us.

In a typical contract, 30% of revenue goes to platform fees, and the remaining 70% is split between the developer and publisher. Since we already have the capability to self-publish globally and have overseas branches, we concluded that using our own resources would be more advantageous."

Crimson Desert is a fantastic-looking title, from the same studio that brought us Black Desert Online. Crimson Desert is, however, a single-player title, which has been compared to The Witcher 3 and other high-fidelity action adventure RPG games.

Thankfully, publisher Pearl Abyss sidestepped Sony's "lucrative" offers, but what intrigues me is the fact that it doesn't sound like Xbox was in the running at all.

Xbox has been known to grab exclusivity deals of its own, but it tends to come in early and help fund development. STALKER 2 is one such example. STALKER 2 is an independently-developed game and is absolutely fantastic-looking so far, but Microsoft has pretty much been there since the start of this current iteration of the game, per our interview with the developers. Microsoft also landed an exclusivity deal with Palworld, which was similarly "indie" and developed using funds from Microsoft. Pearl Abyss describes Sony as having seeing the "entire" game almost, which suggests these deals are less about helping developers from the outset, and more about locking out Xbox from the equation.

It's a business strategy that clearly works for PlayStation, which is outselling Xbox Series X|S at a rapid pace. Xbox fans have celebrated this year that titles like Final Fantasy 16 got essentially confirmed for an Xbox version, while Genshin Impact is finally set to hit Xbox — but fans are getting them several years after the fact.

If I'm a customer deciding which console ecosystem to buy into or buy for my coming-of-age young gamer relative, do I get the one that has more exclusive games or the one that has fewer?

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Should Xbox be more aggressive in pursuing third-party deals like PlayStation?

Microsoft once tried its hand at a third-party timed exclusivity deal, and the backlash from the mainstream media was absolutely palpable. Rise of the Tomb Raider was very briefly exclusive to Xbox One consoles and PC, and since then, Microsoft has avoided committing itself to similar deals, likely in fear of triggering a similar backlash. Meanwhile, PlayStation has never really been subjected to the same scrutiny over its Xbox-exclusionary deals.

Xbox is clearly going to benefit from its partnership with GSC Game World on STALKER 2, however. It also benefitted from timed Xbox exclusivity with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which remains one of the world's biggest service games. But these types of exclusivity deals may be on the way out for reasons Pearl Abyss itself described. Square Enix has famously sworn off doing further timed exclusivity deals with PlayStation and has begun revamping its developer pipeline to support simultaneous multi-platform launches.

There's also the Nintendo Switch 2 wildcard. A more powerful Nintendo Switch 2 will likely lend itself well to receiving a greater share of AAA game support, without the types of compromises its aging predecessor requires. In that universe, does PlayStation continue to simply target Xbox for exclusionary deals, or does it pay more to also exclude Nintendo? If it's the former (and it most likely is the former), then I think Microsoft has a duty to its customers to get ahead of the curve.

I would argue it's neglectful of Microsoft to have even allowed PlayStation to lock games like Silent Hill 2, Black Myth Wukong, and Final Fantasy 7 into exclusivity contracts, given the chilling effect it has over broader customer and developer faith in the Xbox platform. Obviously, you can't win them all — but if you can't win them all, then perhaps it would be savvy business to seek out more of your own deals like PUBG, Stalker 2, and Palworld. Things have gotten better over the years, but Xbox should still have an answer lined up for every major piece of content that skips the Xbox platform owing to exclusionary deals. And this is all without getting into the Xbox multiplatform strategy discourse, by which Microsoft itself has begun giving Sony money directly to help them essentially fund these types of deals. But hey, it works both ways. Through game sales on PlayStation, Xbox should have more money of its own too to fund exclusivity deals, right? Righhht?

What do you think? Should Xbox gun for more exclusivity deals for console? Or is it a pointless waste of cash that won't move the needle either way? Hit the comments.

• The U.S. Army wants Microsoft to reduce the cost of IVAS militarized augmented reality headsets to "be substantially less than" $80,000 per unit, which is the current project cost.
• IVAS has faced several delays and challenges for several years, but Microsoft's deal with the U.S. Army regarding the headsets could be worth almost $22 billion.
• Microsoft discontinued HoloLens 2 recently and the company's mixed reality efforts are largely dead.

When Microsoft discontinued HoloLens 2 and announced end of support for the mixed reality headset, many asked if the announcement would affect the tech giant's planned military headset. Microsoft clarified at the time that it is "fully committed" to its Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), even after discontinuing HoloLens 2. While Microsoft is committed to IVAS, it appears the U.S. Army may have some hesitations. That is, unless Microsoft can lower the cost of individual IVAS units.

Microsoft needs to get the cost of an IVAS headset to "be substantially less than” $80,000, as highlighted by a report by Bloomberg. That figure is the current projected cost of an individual IVAS unit. Microsoft's current deal with the U.S. Army could be worth up to almost $22 billion, but several hurdles have to be cleared before things continue.

The U.S. Army has been testing IVAS, and initial tests were not great. Soldiers experienced headaches and nausea during testing, but things have since improved. Army acquisition chief Doug Bush said that testing" is going much better than the first time around" and that "a lot of problems have been fixed." Those comments were made during the annual Association of the US Army conference last week.

Bush also shared the unit costs will be "a key factor next year when senior leaders make decisions about going into production."

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IVAS units are militarized augmented reality helmets that can provide soldiers powerful insights in real time, such as issuing warnings for threats. The headsets also include night vision and are much more durable than commercial or enterprise augmented reality systems. Those specs and the cost of developing IVAS add up. Bloomberg highlighted that the display, battery, and chest unit of an IVAS unit cost $41,824 (as outlined by budget documents for the project). The rest of the cost is related to engineering, software support, and working with the Army.

While IVAS units are expensive, Microsoft is looking into ways to reduce costs. "We are going through the program to identify where we can reduce costs," said Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Mixed Reality Robin Seiler.

"It’s a fairly complex system, so when you look at cost reduction you have to look at it from a component level, from a labor level and from your supply chain," she added.

Death of Microsoft HoloLens

The move of HoloLens to the Microsoft graveyard has spanned across several years. The saga included former HoloLens lead Alex Kipman being accused of "verbal abuse and sexual harassment" and leaving the company, HoloLens 3 being called a "s--t show," and Microsoft killing its Windows VR platform.

Microsoft has largely shifted its virtual and augmented reality efforts to making software work on other platforms, such as Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. Despite the shift in strategy, the tech giant seems committed to its plans to fulfil the IVAS contract with the U.S. Army.

The next major test of IVAS will occur from April to June this year, during which the headset will undergo further field testing. Following that testing, the Army will either commit to full production or move in a different direction.

• Over the past few years, gaming has shifted increasingly towards digital sales, over physical discs.
• Recently, Circana's Executive Director of Games Mat Piscatella offered an update on the digital split, showing that Microsoft's Xbox platform has now hit 91% in the United States.
• Earlier in the year, Xbox President Sarah Bond forged a new "forwards compatibility" team at Xbox, but we have to ask, does that also include disc-first players?

Microsoft and Xbox were ahead of the curve when it came to digital gaming on consoles, following platforms like Steam headfirst toward a more convenient (and more controlled) digital future. Yet, physical discs still live on.

Whether it's digital sales on the Xbox Store on console, Microsoft Store on PC, licenses through Xbox Game Pass, PC sales on Steam, or apps on iOS or Android — digital games have by far and away become the dominant format.

In the post-physical era, services like Netflix and Steam have completely obliterated the need to buy disc-based media. Steam was a pioneer in this space, although others were exploring the space as download speeds rapidly increased through the late 90s and early 2000s. Microsoft itself had a protozoic version of Xbox Live back in the day, called MSN Game Zone on PC.

It was a brave new world, and I starkly remember the vast backlash Valve endured when it forced its first wave of Steam account requirements onto Half-Life 2 discs. Now, Valve and its DRM platform are lauded as the industry leader and torch-bearer for all of gaming, depending on who you ask at least.

In any case, the rise of Steam ultimately changed the industry forever. Microsoft knew that it was only a matter of time before physical discs became a niche within a niche. It then moved to bridge the gap with its Steam-like plan to allow disc-based versions of Xbox games to come with a digital license attached too. Players would need to get the disc deregistered from their accounts at participating retailers before they could resell them. The trade-off would be friend and family Xbox license sharing, which is similar to the friends and family license pooling system Steam debuted to much fanfare earlier this year. Back in 2012, though, everyone hated it. Xbox has been on the back foot ever since. It goes to show how predicting the future and forging the future can be worlds apart in reality, right?

In any case, Xbox has struggled, and its focus on its digital systems and services has seen it hit over 90% physical vs. digital split on its games. The physical retail space for gaming is on the way out, with dedicated retailers like GAME in the UK on the ropes, and other electronics outlets ending sales of physical discs altogether. The digital split continues to skew away from physical, too.

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Mat Piscatella of U.S. analytics firm Circana recently posted some fresh data on BlueSky detailing disc-based games' slow march to obsolescence. Firms like Nintendo still maintain a large share of physical games, but that is doubtless about to end with the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo's cartridge system may eventually reach the upper limits of read/write speeds for more modern games, and I wouldn't be surprised if some more graphically intensive titles for the Switch 2 launch as digital-only versions to avoid the storage speed bottleneck. Of course, publishers tend to love digital sales over physical, because digital games are harder to trade in and refund — with regulatory consumer rights over digital properties woefully behind the realities of the space. But that's a discussion for another time.

RELATED: Steam clarifies that you don't actually own your games

PlayStation's split is also less skewed than Microsoft's, but it's rapidly closing the gap. Microsoft's Xbox platform meanwhile hit a 91% digital share, so if you're wondering why some retailers are no longer stocking Xbox discs, there's your answer.

Subscription services like Xbox Game Pass will likely do even more harm to the physical footprint on Xbox, as even massive games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 set their sights on the $19.99 per month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Physical disc-based games have already fully died on PC, and consoles are most likely next to follow. As the read/write speed and storage space requirements of modern games outpace what is offered by Blu-ray and other similar mediums, the demise of discs is purely economical.

Still, Microsoft has been selling discs for years. Many within the Xbox faithful have amassed vast collections of physical games over the years, representing hundreds of games and thousands of dollars worth of investments. I firmly believe that game preservation ultimately lies in emulation and the like, but there's a physical, tangible part of Xbox's history that also deserves to be preserved, even if Xbox's future is inevitably all-digital (like the Xbox Series X Digital Edition.) And really, it doesn't need to be that expensive for Microsoft, so support those fans and collectors — who represent some of Xbox's most dedicated customers.

Xbox should ensure that disc-owners don't get left behind, and maybe reviving the 2013 dual disc-digital licensing model is the way to do it

The PlayStation 5 line-up has all digital versions that ditch the disc drive in exchange for some modest savings. Similarly, Microsoft's new Xbox Series X Digital Edition shaves $50 off the MSRP, too. However, unlike Xbox, PlayStation at least offers optional disc drive add-ons.

Earlier this year, Xbox President Sarah Bond announced the creation of a forwards compatibility team at Microsoft Gaming. Compatibility has been a key differentiator for Xbox, with the Xbox Series X|S offering unprecedented generational compatibility in the console space. The Xbox Series X|S can run dozens upon dozens of games from the Xbox 360 and OG Xbox era, as well as every single game from the Xbox One era. The next-gen Xbox consoles absolutely need to continue this tradition, even if the total demise of the disc drive is almost certain.

If we are carrying backward compatibility through to the next-gen Xbox consoles, which I firmly expect to include an Xbox handheld and a more traditional Xbox Series X successor, Microsoft needs to consider an optional Blu-ray disc drive. For users who have amassed a collection of disc-based games, forward compatibility represents something completely different to digital-first collectors like myself. Those fans don't deserve to be left behind.

In a perfect world, DRM-free like GOG would be the default. We'd fully own the games we've purchased, whether it's discs or digital. We don't live in that universe, though, and platform holders hold all the cards for how ownership of games ultimately plays out. I'm not here to discuss that aspect of the industry right now, but Microsoft did once try to find a system that would satisfy everyone involved, at least to some degree.

People hated it at the time, but they might be ready for it now: Microsoft could perhaps explore reviving the 2013 dual-licensing disc-digital model it ultimately shelved for Xbox One after it failed to properly portray the benefits of the system. That would be particularly beneficial given the fact Microsoft is gearing up to let you play games you already own on Xbox Cloud Gaming. Disc-based gamers stand to completely lose out with this new cloud gaming feature. If it followed the 2013 model, we would also get the family game-sharing pool back. If people REALLY didn't want all the benefits that this would bring and prefer the existing model, Microsoft could also make it opt-in too, maybe. Somehow. Either way, the same feature has now enjoyed a successful reception on Steam — without the added benefit of physical discs. I thought about arguing that it could give retail a potential lifeline too, but eh, realistically I think that ship has probably well and truly sailed.

Even if that's no longer an option, some form of USB Blu-ray drive just to trigger the license for a local download would be enough, to at least keep that legacy intact. External USB Blu-ray drives go for as little as $50 bucks on Amazon, and logistically speaking, I would hope that it wouldn't be too complicated for Microsoft to create something similar for its most dedicated customers.

I realize it's not as simple as simply whacking a USB drive into the Xbox, given the DRM and security apparatus requirements. I don't doubt that restoring digital entitlement to disc-based games retroactively is also likely impossible. I think it's still well worth exploring and communicating on — if Microsoft truly is about future compatibility.

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a new Dragon Age action RPG from BioWare that's scheduled to release on October 31, 2024. It's available for $59.99, and is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5.
• On Thursday, NVIDIA announced it's also launching on GeForce NOW, the company's cloud gaming service.
• It also revealed that from now until October 30, there's a special promotional offer available that gives you the game for "free" if you purchase a six-month subscription to the GeForce NOW Ultimate tier for $99.99.
• Ultimate is the most expensive version of GeForce NOW, and gives you access to RTX 4080-powered rigs and servers, the option to stream games at 4K and 120 FPS, use DLSS 3 and NVIDIA Reflex while doing so, and play for up to eight hours in each game session.

What might end up being one of 2024's best new roleplaying games (RPGs) is officially heading to one of the industry's best game streaming services, and you can even get it for "free" if you take advantage of a special promotional offer.

Thursday, the technology firm NVIDIA announced that from now until October 30, copies of the upcoming, highly anticipated action RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be included with six-month purchases of GeForce NOW Ultimate — the most expensive tier of the company's cloud gaming service. First launched four years ago, it's grown to become one of the most popular options for streaming games you own on PC platforms, including Steam, the Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, the Microsoft Store, the EA app, and GOG. You can sign up for it here (note that both new and existing members can take advantage of this deal).

On top of giving you Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the Ultimate $99.99/six months of game time offer lets you stream your games from RTX 4080-powered rigs and servers, complete with the ability to use NVIDIA DLSS 3 for performance-boosting upscaling and frame generation and NVIDIA Reflex for low-latency gaming. You can also play at up to 4K resolution and 120 FPS, with no ads to deal with and a very lengthy session length cap of eight hours.

Considering that Dragon Age: The Veilguard itself costs $59.99 to buy standalone, this is a great way for anyone who enjoys gaming on the cloud to pick up the latest entry in BioWare's beloved fantasy franchise. Note that the game's release date is scheduled for October 31, so it'll be available to play immediately after NVIDIA's offer is taken off the table in a few weeks.

Notably, The Veilguard is the first new Dragon Age game in a decade, and a direct follow-up to the award winning 2014 title Inquisition. First announced in 2022 as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, it was renamed The Veilguard earlier this year and is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC through Steam, the EA app, and now GeForce NOW. NVIDIA's service will also allow you to play it on Mac, TVs, iPhones, iPads, and Android devices.

Little is known about the game's overall story, though the gist of the plot is that you and seven companions — dubbed "the Veilguard" — are tasked with stopping a pair of malevolent eleven gods from destroying the world over the course of an action-packed adventure. In typical action RPG fashion, players use a combination of melee attacks, magic spells, and defensive actions like dodging or parrying to overcome their foes, with three different classes and a variety of specialization subclasses giving them lots of playstyle options.

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All in all, it definitely has the potential to be one of this year's best Xbox games and best PC games, and I'm looking forward to checking it out as someone who's never actually played Dragon Age, but has always been curious. I probably won't take advantage of this offer to get it since I have a very capable gaming PC and have no need for cloud gaming, but if you do, it's worth considering.

You won't be able to play Dragon Age: The Veilguard on the competing Xbox Cloud Gaming service at launch since the game won't be available through Xbox Game Pass. However, if The Veilguard eventually makes its way to the standard tier of EA Play (it's very likely that it will), it will become Xbox Cloud Gaming-compatible since Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gives you access to EA Play. This may also happen if it's included as part of the upcoming Xbox Cloud Gaming "Bring Your Own Games" rollout at some point, though as my colleague Jez Corden wrote in that linked article, there will likely be certain limitations.

• PlayStation Studios and Insomniac Games' Marvel's Spider-Man 2 first launched exclusively for PlayStation 5 on Oct. 20, 2023. 
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is coming to Windows PC on Jan. 30, 2025. 
• The port is being handled with assistance from Nixxes Software, a PlayStation team specializing in PC versions of games. 
• Insomniac Games also confirmed that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will not be getting any story DLC, unlike the original Marvel's Spider-Man. 

The iconic Marvel web-slinger is returning to PC next year. 

During New York Comic Con, PlayStation and Marvel Games revealed (thanks, PlayStation Blog) that Insomniac Games' Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is headed to Windows PC on Jan. 30, 2025. This port is being handled with assistance from the porting experts at Nixxes Software, a team that's also worked on multiple other PC versions of PlayStation games, including Marvel's Spider-Man, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Ghost of Tsushima. 

You can check out the trailer celebrating the upcoming PC launch of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 below:

“Bringing Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales to a new audience on PC together with Insomniac and Marvel Games has been a great experience for us at Nixxes,” says Julian Huijbregts, community manager at Nixxes. 

“We are excited to continue this collaboration and bring Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to PC with a suite of enhanced features, including enhanced ray-tracing options, to take full advantage of a variety of setups and configurations. Stay tuned for more details on features and recommended specs closer to launch.”

Alongside this news, the press release on PlayStation Blog also confirms that the team has "no additional story content" planned for the game, meaning Marvel's Spider-Man 2 won't be getting any kind of story DLC like the original game did. 

Set after the events of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 follows Peter Parker and Miles Morales as both Spider-Men struggle to balance their personal lives with the demands of superhero work. Meanwhile, Kraven the Hunter decides to turn New York City into his personal big game safari.

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One of the fastest additions yet to the PlayStation library on PC

While big single-player PlayStation games traditionally launch on console years in advance of arriving on PC, that's not the case here.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 first launched on PlayStation 5 back on Oct. 20, 2023, and went on to sell 11 million copies as of April 2024. With this PC version of the game coming just over a year later, it's one of the fastest additions yet to the library of PlayStation Studios games on Windows PC.

Compare that to God of War Ragnarök, which first launched on PlayStation consoles in November 2022, and just arrived on PC back in September 2024. 

While I understand that the news no story DLC is happening will be disappointing to fans, Insomniac Games is still staying busy, with the team currently hard at work on Marvel's Wolverine. 

With the RPG now just a few weeks away, players interested in the prospect of a new fantasy adventure are wondering when specifically they'll be able to embark on this new Dragon Age journey. Luckily, the developers have announced the game's official release date, along with precise launch time information. You'll find all of that in the sections below, as well as everything we know about things like preloads and storage requirements.

What is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a single player action RPG set in the fantasy world of Thedas, and it takes place after the events of the series' previous game Dragon Age: Inquisition. Players will create and take control of a custom character called "Rook" (you'll be able to give them an actual name in the character creator) and adventure through the game as one of three classes — Warrior, Rogue, or Mage — with each class allowing you to customize and finely tune your playstyle with specialization subclasses. Like many other action RPGs, combat involves utilizing weapons, magic, and skills to take the fight to foes while avoiding their strikes with well-timed defensive maneuvers like dodges, blocks, and parries.

Naturally, most of The Veilguard's choice-driven story has been kept under wraps by EA and BioWare, though there are some things we know about the overarching plot of the game. Solas, a companion character that returns from Inquisition, threatens all of Thedas with a ritual that is said to restore lost elven immortality, but also rip open the Veil — the barrier between the world and the metaphysical "Fade" realm where demons reside. You and The Veilguard companions stop him, however, with the ensuing skirmish resulting in the arrival of a pair of elven gods that plan to destroy the world. In the aftermath, you and your allies are tasked with banding together to slay the two deadly deities.

The game will have seven different companions you can recruit, travel, and fight alongside, with deep backstories and romances to engage with if you're so inclined. Also, several characters from previous Dragon Age games will appear throughout the story. For example, Varric Tethras and Lace Harding will both be in The Veilguard, with the former originating from Dragon Age 2 and the latter first introduced in Inquisition.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (via Steam, the EA app, and GeForce NOW), and PS5, and costs $59.99 to preorder (notably, it's also Steam Deck verified). In addition to the standard version of the game, there's also a $79.99 Deluxe Edition with a suite of exclusive cosmetic goodies for Rook and their companions (see our Dragon Age: The Veilguard preorder guide for more information).

Dragon Age: The Veilguard — Release date and times

Fans hoping to play the new RPG soon will be happy to know that it's not at all far off, and is only a few short weeks away. Specifically, Dragon Age: The Veilguard's scheduled release date is October 31, 2024, officially making it 2024's spookiest game launch.

In terms of exact launch time, BioWare has confirmed that The Veilguard will become available at the same time worldwide at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET. As a result of this global launch, though, it actually won't release until early on November 1 in a few eastern regions. If you're planning to stay up late on Halloween to play the game as soon as it comes out, keep that in mind!

Thanks to a launch times map from EA and BioWare, we know exactly when The Veilguard will release in major time zones across the world. Each of these times is visible in the image of the map above, though I've also put them in the table below:

Dragon Age: The Veilguard countdown clock

This clock counts down to Dragon Age: The Veilguard's global release date and launch time, making it a useful tool if you want to track how much longer you'll have to wait before it's out.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard download size

New games have gotten quite large in recent years, and I'm not just referring to things like map sizes and quest counts. These days, it's not uncommon to see a massive and highly detailed single player RPG like this one require 100GB of file space or more, and unfortunately, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is in-line with that trend. As revealed by the official Dragon Age: The Veilguard system requirements, you'll need 100GB of storage on a solid-state drive (SSD) to play the game.

If you don't have enough space on an SSD you already own, you can try to free up hard drive space by deleting old files (especially large ones like videos), compressing others, or uninstalling other games you don't often play (these are just a few suggestions). If you want to add more space to your rig or need to get an SSD, consider picking up one of the best SSDs available right now.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard preload date and time

One of the best features of modern gaming is preloading, or downloading and installing a game before it actually becomes available to play. Preloading has become increasingly prevalent ever since file sizes started ballooning into the triple digits, as it helps everyone — especially players with poor or slow internet connections — start playing at launch right away.

Preloads are available for both the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with Xbox preloads live now and PlayStation ones coming a few days before the game's release date. You'll find its exact preload dates and times listed below.

• Xbox Series X|S: Oct. 14, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET
• PlayStation 5: Oct. 29, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is slated to release on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 on October 31, 2024. It looks to be one of the top new single player RPGs, and could very well be one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of the year, too.

• Double Fine Productions, the creators of Psychonauts, Brütal Legend, and Grim Fandango, have shared a blog post looking at the behind-the-scenes history of Brütal Legend in honor of its 15th anniversary.
• Double Fine Productions has also stated within the blog post that many of its developers have been considering making a sequel to Brütal Legend.
• Brütal Legend is an action-adventure/strategy game hybrid released in 2009. It follows the adventures of Eddie Riggs, the roadie, as he leads an army of heavy metal revolutionaries to free the Brütal Land from the clutches of evil demons.

On October 13, 2024, Double Fine Productions' cult-classic love letter to all things Heavy Metal, Brütal Legend, celebrated its 15th anniversary after being released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2009.

To celebrate this milestone, Double Fine Productions' community manager, Harper Jay MacIntyre, has put together a blog post on its official website detailing the history of this action-adventure/strategy game hybrid, along with interviews from the developers, including the studio's founder, Tim Schafer.

If you grew up playing Brütal Legend like I did back in the late 2000's, this blog post is a fascinating read. It goes on to describe how the game's general concepts were inspired by Tim Schafer's love for classic Heavy Metal music and movies such as Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and the lengths the art team went to create a world that felt like a heavy album cover come to life.

In addition, the blog also details how the game was always intended to have real-time strategy elements since its inception (with game mechanics inspired by a cult SEGA Genesis game called Herzog Zwei), the way game pivoted towards having single-player action-adventure elements during development at the behest of the game's original publisher Vivendi, and how it got various rockstars like Jack Black, Ozzy Osborne, and the late great Lemmy Kilmister to do voice work for the project.

By far the most interesting topic of discussion is when Harper brought up the possibility of a sequel as die-hard fans have begging for Brütal Legend 2 for over a decade.

Harper then goes on to describe that the dev team had DLC expansion ideas for the original game, how if Tim Schafer wanted to do a sequel, he would like to keep the RTS elements of Brütal Legend 1 instead of making it solely an action-adventure game, and how one of the programmers, Chad Dawson even came with potentially of making a Brütal Legend 2 an RPG, a full RTS, or even an auto-battler.

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If Psychonauts can get a sequel, so can Brütal Legend.

As a child who spent their youth listening to the rocking tunes of Metallica, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden, I loved playing Brütal Legend when it first came in 2009. The world's heavy album cover art direction was insane; the characters were outrageously cool, and the combat, while being rough around the edges, was satisfying once mastered (nothing beats melting demon faces while playing guitar solos).

I even revisited Brütal Legend in 2021 in preparation for Psychonauts 2 and I still feel it holds to a large degree today despite the comprises the game had to make during development. While I prefer the action-adventure aspects over the RTS mechanics due to game balancing, I can respect Tim Schafer's vision of keeping them in for a potential sequel, as it does help it stand out from the crowd. If they did a sequel, they could refine the RTS mechanics and marry them more intuitively with the hack 'n slash combat system and open-world world exploration.

Ever since Double Fine Productions became a part of Xbox Game Studios, the studio enjoyed greater degrees of creative freedom and higher budgets to play with than it ever did under Vivendi and EA, which helped it create Psychonauts 2, one of the best Xbox games I have ever played. If Psychonauts can get a next-gen sequel with a big budget, then Brütal Legend deserves one as well because this land of metal is rife with potential that deserves to be explored further, no matter what genre it tackles next. I know I would kill to play a Brütal Legend RPG spin-off at least (preferably with turn-based combat), as Chad Dawson suggested.