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Dragon Age: The Veilguard won't allow preload for PC ahead of its release

BioWare has chosen to skip DRM protection like Denuvo, which leaves the game unable to be preloaded ahead of its launch date.

TJ Denzer

October 15, 2024 5:40 PM

Image via Electronic Arts

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BioWare’s newest Dragon Age game, The Veilguard, is almost upon us, and with it will come an all-new journey in the popular RPG universe, but you’re not going to be able to load up the game’s file ahead of its release on PC. That’s because BioWare and Electronic Arts are skipping third-party DRM this time around. On the positive side, that means nothing like Denuvo to slow things down or foul them up, but it also means the game won’t have preloading ahead of its release.

BioWare detailed this decision in a new feature on Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s specs and global release times. There, the team shared why the game won’t be up for preload for PC players:

Our detailed specifications include settings for both Ray Tracing on and Ray Tracing off, so that players can know what to expect for launch.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard won’t include any 3rd party DRM (such as Denuvo) on any platform. The lack of DRM means that there will be no… pic.twitter.com/e2BmUJEcNm

— Dragon Age (@dragonage) October 15, 2024

It’s likely more good news than bad for folks who have experience with Denuvo tanking performance of PC games. It was a huge problem for Resident Evil Village on PC up until Capcom removed it. Meanwhile, games like Ghostwire: Tokyo have added the controversial protection software in updates after their release. Regardless, it sounds like BioWare and EA have opted to skip the headache and let the chips fall where they may in terms of DRM.

With Veilguard’s release date set for the end of October, stay tuned for further updates leading up to the game’s launch. We’ll have more news and coverage on the Dragon Age: The Veilguard topic, right here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.