Dragon Age 4 has been a long time coming and BioWare still doesn’t have much to show for all the years it has spent developing the RPG. And even though there still isn’t much to reveal about the game, the team gave an update on its development, which coincided with another lead leaving the team.
BioWare Vice President Gary McKay took to the studio’s blog to give some general updates about where the game is in production. Specifically, he said the game is currently in the middle portion of development. To be more specific, he said how games have multiple phases — concept, pre-production, production, alpha, and beta — and being in the middle of that production phase was “a great feeling.”
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He didn’t have more specific details to share on the fantasy game, only that players will be hearing more later this year through more blogs and social media posts. It’s remains to be seen how substantial these future posts will be.
McKay also took the time to thank Executive Producer Christian Dailey who is leaving the studio after joining in 2018. Leads leaving BioWare has been somewhat of a frequent occurrence over the years and likely at least partially contributed the hardships surrounding Anthem and Mass Effect: Andromeda. Creative Director Matt Goldman left BioWare in November 2021 and both BioWare General Manager Casey Hudson and Dragon Age Executive Producer Mark Darrah left in December 2020, to name a few.
However, McKay stated that there are enough industry veterans to carry the team through its remaining phases. He then listed off a few names like Mac Walters, Benoit Houle, and Corrine Busche who have all been at BioWare for decades. While not overtly stated for obvious reasons, it seemed like a preemptive way to squash the notion that BioWare is hemorrhaging too much talent and setting itself up for more disappointing games.
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The post also contained a slight update about the upcoming Mass Effect game. McKay said that Mike Gamble’s team (which he also pointed out was made up of veterans as well as newcomers) was “actively prototyping new ideas and experiences.” While admitting that AAA games can take a long time to make, he said that quality is the team’s first priority and that it “simply takes time to get it right.”
Dragon Age 4 was announced at The Game Awards in 2018 and then reappeared at the same show in 2020, which were reportedly two different games — the 2018 one was allegedly a game with live-service elements while the 2020 re-reveal was a more typical single-player RPG. The title has been under wraps for some time, which is also the case for the next Mass Effect. It was also revealed at The Game Awards in 2020 and has similarly not had much to show since.