🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Dragon Age’s Queer Wizard Writer EXPLODES Over EA’s Saudi Takeover – “GUNS & FOOTBALL IN, GAY STUFF OUT!” 💥
Picture this: The guy who scripted your steamy elf romances and non-binary heroes just dropped a bombshell tweet that’s got the internet in flames. With Saudi cash flooding in, is BioWare’s magic about to get a brutal “straight-wash”? No more Veilguard vibes – just endless Madden reboots?
The tea is scalding, and fans are picking sides in the chaos. Could this be the plot twist that kills the series… or rebirths it?
Unpack the full drama (and sound off below) here: 👇
The aftershocks of Electronic Arts’ (EA) blockbuster $55 billion buyout by a Saudi-led consortium continue to rattle the gaming world, but few tremors have hit harder than a blistering social media outburst from one of BioWare’s most prominent alumni. Patrick Weekes, the former lead writer behind Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s intricate web of queer romances and identity-driven narratives, unleashed a viral prediction that’s cleaved fans into warring camps: Under the new ownership, “guns and football are in, gay stuff is out.” His words, posted on X (formerly Twitter) amid the deal’s fresh ink, have amassed thousands of shares, likes, and heated replies, amplifying fears that BioWare’s progressive legacy could be the first casualty of a debt-fueled overhaul.
Weekes, who departed BioWare in early 2025 after a 15-year tenure that shaped the studio’s storytelling DNA, didn’t mince words in his September 29 post. Responding to speculation about the acquisition’s fallout – spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners – he quipped: “Guns and football in, gay stuff out. That’s the new EA playbook.” The remark, laced with sardonic bite, quickly snowballed into a lightning rod. Progressive gamers hailed it as a stark warning against cultural censorship, while detractors dismissed it as the sour grapes of a “woke” architect whose recent work tanked sales. By Thursday morning, the thread had racked up over 50,000 impressions, with YouTube reaction videos like “Dragon Age Writer MELTS DOWN” from channels such as Upper Echelon Gamers pulling in six figures of views overnight.
For the uninitiated, Weekes isn’t just any scribe. The openly queer writer joined BioWare in 2010, rising to lead narrative designer on Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014), where he penned the groundbreaking romance arc for Dorian Pavus – a Tevinter mage grappling with his homosexuality in a repressive society. That storyline, blending heartbreak and defiance, earned Weekes a spot in gaming’s pantheon of inclusive trailblazers and helped Inquisition snag Game of the Year honors. He doubled down in Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017) with fluid companion dynamics and carried the torch into The Veilguard, BioWare’s latest Dragon Age entry released in November 2024. There, players could woo a diverse cast including non-binary companions like Taash, a qunari warrior exploring gender fluidity, amid a backdrop of ancient gods and moral quandaries.
The Veilguard, however, marked a bittersweet swan song. Despite critical acclaim for its combat revamp and emotional depth – Polygon called it “a triumphant return to form” – the game stumbled commercially, selling just 1.5 million units in its first quarter against EA’s 3 million goal. Insiders point to a protracted development cycle, ballooning from $100 million to $200 million after scrapping a multiplayer prototype, as a key culprit. Weekes’ dialogue, infused with contemporary wit and social commentary, drew fire from purists who decried it as “Marvel-fied” fluff diluting the series’ grimdark roots. Review-bombing on Metacritic spiked early, with one-star tirades branding it “pronoun propaganda.” Weekes left shortly after launch, citing a desire for “new horizons,” but his exit memo – leaked to Kotaku – hinted at burnout from “corporate pressures clashing with creative soul.”
Enter the buyout: Announced September 29, the deal saddles EA with $20 billion in debt, prompting Wall Street whispers of austerity measures. PIF, already a 9.9% stakeholder, brings its sports-centric playbook – think LIV Golf and Newcastle United – to the table, aligning with EA’s cash-printing behemoths like Madden NFL and EA Sports FC, which accounted for 78% of 2024 revenue via in-game purchases. Analysts at Wedbush Securities forecast a pivot to “low-risk, high-margin” titles, sidelining the narrative-heavy RPGs that BioWare pioneered. “Expect more sequels to proven formulas,” Wedbush’s Michael Pachter told Bloomberg. “BioWare’s experimental lane? That’s the first to get paved over.”
Weekes’ tweet taps into a deeper dread: the clash between BioWare’s ethos and its new overlords. Saudi Arabia’s strict laws on LGBTQ+ expression – where same-sex acts can carry the death penalty – cast a long shadow over titles like The Veilguard, where queer themes aren’t subtext but superstructure. Fans flooded X with #SaveBioWare pleas, one viral post from influencer @LGBTQGamers reading: “Weekes is right – this isn’t just about games, it’s erasure. Dragon Age taught us to fight the fade; now we’re fading.” A Change.org petition demanding “inclusion clauses” in the deal terms has surged past 100,000 signatures, backed by GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign.
Yet, the backlash against Weekes has been equally ferocious. On Reddit’s r/KotakuInAction and X’s conservative gaming circles, his words are ammo for a counteroffensive. “Finally, someone admits the ‘gay stuff’ killed Dragon Age,” posted @GamingTrad, a thread that hit 20,000 upvotes. Critics argue Weekes’ influence bloated budgets with “unnecessary agendas,” pointing to Veilguard’s $150 million dev cost – double Inquisition’s – as evidence of mission creep. “Gamers wanted dragons and demons, not diversity lectures,” one YouTuber ranted in a 500,000-view video titled “Writer’s Meltdown Proves Woke Gaming’s End.” The sentiment echoes broader fatigue: AAA sales dipped 15% industry-wide in 2024, per Newzoo, as players flocked to apolitical indies like Hades II or Elden Ring’s no-nonsense brutality.
Weekes isn’t backing down. In a follow-up Bluesky post – where he’s migrated post-X exodus – he clarified: “This isn’t hysteria; it’s pattern recognition. I’ve seen EA chase quarterly reports over stories. With this debt? Stories like ours get cut first.” He invoked BioWare’s halcyon days under founders like Ray Muzyka, when Jade Empire (2005) wove Eastern philosophy with player agency sans corporate meddling. “We built worlds where love wasn’t a line item,” Weekes added, alluding to Inquisition’s Iron Bull romance, a pansexual qunari whose vulnerability shattered stereotypes.
The controversy underscores gaming’s geopolitical pivot. PIF’s $500 billion war chest has funneled $10 billion into entertainment since 2016, from Hollywood stakes to esports leagues, but critics like Amnesty International decry it as “sportswashing” to gloss over human rights records. For EA, it’s a double-edged sword: The deal injects capital for AI-driven efficiencies – think procedural dialogue generators slashing writer headcounts – but risks boycotts from BioWare’s 10 million-plus loyalists, per Steam data. EA CEO Andrew Wilson, in a September 30 investor call, struck a conciliatory tone: “Our commitment to diverse stories endures. This partnership amplifies, not alters, that vision.” Skeptics note Wilson’s track record: Post-2017, EA shuttered Visceral Games and pivoted Battlefield to live-service grinds, alienating single-player purists.
BioWare’s current squad, down to 80 souls after January’s 50% layoffs, is in siege mode. Veilguard’s post-launch patches – adding New Game+ and companion backstories – aim to stem the bleed, but whispers of Mass Effect 5’s scope creep persist. Lead designer Mike Gamble tweeted defiantly: “We’re building the Shepard you deserve. Fade be damned.” Yet, with Affinity’s Kushner – whose White House tenure championed Middle East deals – on board, speculation swirls of soft censorship: Localization teams scrubbing “sensitive” content for Gulf markets, where Veilguard’s Taash arc already faced quiet edits.
Weekes’ meltdown has galvanized unlikely allies. Larian Studios’ Swen Vincke, whose Baldur’s Gate 3 sold 15 million copies on unapologetic inclusivity, retweeted: “Art bows to no fund. If BioWare needs a home, doors open.” CD Projekt Red, fresh off Cyberpunk 2077’s redemption, floated IP acquisition talks. On the flip side, Saudi gamers – a growing demo via PIF-backed events – push back: “We love Dragon Age for the lore, not lectures,” one Riyadh forum post read.
As the deal lurches toward a 2027 close, Weekes’ prophecy hangs like a cursed artifact. Has the Veilguard’s scribe foreseen doom, or is this the cathartic purge gaming needs? BioWare alums like David Gaider (Dorian’s co-creator) weighed in on Tumblr: “Patrick’s not wrong, but markets evolve. Fight smart, not scared.” For now, the rift exposes gaming’s fault lines: Commerce versus conscience, global capital versus grassroots tales.
In The Veilguard’s lore, the fade is a mirror to desires – twisted, beautiful, contested. Weekes’ words reflect that chaos back at us. Will EA’s new guardians preserve the rainbow, or grind it under golden boot? The quest continues, one tweet at a time.
