With the recent announcement of Dragon Age: The Veilguard and its Halloween release date came a deluge of preorder options and thunderous drops into the BioWare merch shop. The largest of this was of course the Rook’s Coffer, a variety of goodies touted as “Rook’s personal effects” that you’re able to preorder, clocking in at 150 dollars. The Coffer also, as is listed in several places, does not actually include any actual copies of The Veilguard. 

This curious decision was met mostly with concern. Rook’s Coffer is essentially a hundred fifty dollar box of feelies with no game attached—the kind of thing that would normally be released as a physical deluxe edition of the game, or as a set of preorder gifts alongside the game. Instead, it’s essentially a glorified loot crate. Even more curiously, there’s no physical edition of Dragon Age: The Veilguard (that name doesn’t get less awkward to type the more it appears), so you’re paying in the range of 60-80 dollars for a game code and then if you want something more substantial to go with that preorder, they offer a variety of merch including multiple physical editions that don’t include the game. 

Now, the Rook’s Coffer crate is being sold specifically in BioWare’s merch store, and as we stated above, lists in at least three places that it does not in fact include Dragon Age: The Veilguard in any way. It’s tempting to think of it more as a “supporter pack,” a high-end merch crate meant to show support for the developer whether or not you actually buy the game. Some people might just want the cool art and the light-up dagger.

The problem with that line of thinking is that Rook’s Coffer is clearly meant to accompany Dragon Age: The Veilguard. With its maps and lithographs, it’s expecting that people will buy it alongside their preorder of The Veilguard so they have a bunch of cool physical goodies that tie into the game contextually. Without that context, there’s not much reason for anyone to preorder it, no matter how awesome that light-up dagger is. 

With game prices now soaring ever closer to the 70-100 range and “deluxe edition” edging closer to meaning “at this price you get the full game,” packaging a physical edition loot crate for an extra hundred fifty dollars and expecting people to buy it alongside the game is irresponsible. Why not just offer a deluxe edition with all those things? Why not offer physical editions of the game for the market BioWare clearly knows exists? Why pretend anyone would buy these separately? 

At a certain point, we’re going to have to figure out what our games are actually worth before companies like BioWare do it for us. 

What do you think? Is Rook’s Coffer just an awesome loot crate, or an insidious way to charge top dollar for a physical edition? Let us know in the comments below or join the Boss Rush Discord to continue the conversation!

Featured Image: Dragon Age: The Veilguard promo image, courtesy of BioWare and Electronic Arts

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