Earlier this week, a report was published that suggested that development of the new Dragon Age game has been rebooted. The report claimed that this reboot was done in order for BioWare to incorporate more "live" elements into the next Dragon Age game, allowing it to have a longer life cycle.

Unsurprisingly, this suggestion set off alarms within the Dragon Age community. Many fans immediately jumped to the conclusion that this would mean that the next Dragon Age game may become a games as a service title that includes loot boxes and microtransactions, as is customary for many games that have multiplayer modes and long life cycles.

The controversy and conversations surrounding the Dragon Age development plans have now reached BioWare executives and BioWare general manager Casey Hudson has weighed in on the debate. Writing on Twitter, Hudson told fans that, although it is "too early to talk details," when the developers talk about "live" services, it refers to "designing a game for continued storytelling after the main story." This seems to suggest that the live services in the next Dragon Age will be downloadable content expansions rather than multiplayer features.

Hudson also said that fans would be "relieved to see what the team is working on," saying that the new Dragon Age game will be "story & character focused." Following the cancellation of Visceral's Star Wars game and EA's decision to make it a less linear, story-based adventure, many bemoaned the death of story-focused games. Hudson's comments may be reassuring to fans worried that Dragon Age's storytelling style would be next on the chopping block.

According to the replies to Hudson's tweet, fans' worst fears seem to have dissipated. Fans were concerned that the next Dragon Age would have microtransactions like Star Wars Battlefront 2. They did not want to see the beloved BioWare fantasy franchise hit with pay to win concerns, nor did they want it to feel like a terrible grind as a result of a microtransaction-heavy business model.

Admittedly, it is too soon to say that Dragon Age will not have any microtransactions or loot boxes at all. But it does seem as though the game won't be entirely based around that business model and EA and BioWare may be more interested in supporting the game with DLC than with smaller unlocks. For many fans of the series, that will feel like a win.