BioWare celebrates annual fan-run Dragon Age Day with two new short stories

The Dragon Age fandom has it kind of rough.

Dragon Age: Inquisition celebrated its seventh birthday on November 18th. Seven years without a sequel, and it feels like most news on that front is checkered at best. The best thing we've heard in ages is that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's success, coupled with Anthem's distinct lack thereof, convinced Electronic Arts back in February to pivot the Untitled Dragon Age Project (hereafter referred to as "DA4") back to its original intent as a single-player game without a stack of live service and multiplayer features.

But the best fandoms endure. Firefly's been off the air for nearly 20 years and "Browncoats" still show up at every major science fiction convention. Dragon Age fans try our hardest not to give in to the internet echo chamber of (partially justified) despair. To that end, some fans — the sort with substantially more gumption than I have — have spent the past four years and counting essentially marketing the franchise for EA and BioWare in the absence of much public forward momentum.

In Fall 2018, Teresa "ImASithDuh" M and a small band of peers launched Dragon Age Day. It's been a great success. Sure, it might not light the tops news sites on fire. After all, there's seldom much by way of real news. This is a fan-fueled passion event. But that hasn't stopped many of Dragon Age's key creators from getting in on the action.

EA's official website for the series formally recognizes it, year after year, with warm tidings and wonderful memories cherished by some of the writers, artists, and more who have shaped (and continue to shape) Thedas.

We're the ones emphasizing the bolded portions, by the way, not BioWare.

We are blown away that all of you celebrate Dragon Age Day every year and appreciate everyone that does. Dragon Age Day launched unofficially by fans, for fans, in the Fall of 2018 by Teresa "ImaSithDuh" M, with a small team of founders also including Angela Mitchell, Savvy B., and Alistair SM James, as well as former participants Ghil Dirthalen and Andrastini. We really appreciate the team behind Dragon Age Day for bringing us all together while supporting inclusivity and accessibility with a contribution to Able Gamers charity in the process! 

This day belongs to you, our awesome community. In that spirit we want to celebrate with you as fellow fans, while spotlighting your unique and imaginative contributions to a world we all love. All day we’ll be showcasing your amazing original creations on social, dropping new Dragon Age™ merch on Dark Horse Direct, Gaming Heads, and the BioWare Gear Store, as well as giving away plenty of gift cards. Tag your posts on Twitter using #BioWareGiveaway for a chance to win. Apex Legends™ has also gotten in on the fun with a Dragon Age themed Highland Ravager Weapon Charm available to EA Play members to claim anytime between December 2, 2021 and January 4, 2022. 

Additionally, the Dragon Age Day team will be hosting events including charity rewards on sale from Dragon Age fan artists, 24+ hours of Twitch Livestreams all day today, writing, art & meme prompts and challenges, and videos spotlighting personal insights from the Dragon Age fan community (this year's question: "Who is your favorite Dragon Age Companion/Character, and Why?). You can also view the full list of activities here.

We are continuously amazed by the passionate, diverse, inspiring, and creative community that has come together to join us in the land of Thedas. We are humbled by the ways in which you have expanded and celebrated the world of Dragon Age. From captivating fan fiction, beautiful character art, and cutting edge cosplay to themed weddings, birthdays, tattoos, and even baby names, the world of Thedas has extended beyond the games and is now it’s own living breathing place embodied by all of you. We can not thank you all enough for your continued support and love for the franchise. It is what inspires us each and every day to continue to build new worlds, characters, and stories for you to explore.

Speaking of building new worlds and stories for you to explore, we want to let you all know that we're still hard at work on building the next single-player focused experience for Dragon Age. We're excited for next year when we can talk more about what we're working on. Until then, we’ll leave you with two new short stories from the world of Dragon Age!

Thank you all for continuing to take this journey with us.

If there is anything here in terms of fresh news, it's the unfortunate confirmation that DA4 won't be at The Game Awards 2021. Or at least, if it is, it must surely be a last-minute addition considering how recently this blog post was written and how blatantly it's stated that we won't see more until next year.

Those two new short stories can (and totally should) be read right here. It's a lovely way for the authors of some of our favorite characters to continually express these brushstrokes of familiarity with a rich setting that's just begging for DA4 to finally arrive.

In the meantime, have you read Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights? Our Natalie Flores reviewed it last year. Fans praise it as some of the best tie-in work the franchise has yet seen and speaking personally here, I have to agree. Plus, there are some tantalizing hints concerning the promising content we'll someday see in DA4... provided, of course, that such content hasn't been overwritten during either of the game's two reboots (first for the worse, then for the better).

Such is the way of Dragon Age fandom. Clinging to hope for a brighter tomorrow, the same as any Warden, Champion, Inquisitor, or hard-knocks dwarven sidekick.