What’s going on with BioWare’s Dragon Age franchise? The studio has confirmed a new Dragon Age is coming and insist they’re “hard at work” on the game, but there’s reason to be skeptical. Dragon Age mastermind Mike Laidlaw recently left BioWare, and, according to a recent report from Kotaku, the studio is currently focusing all their efforts on the upcoming Anthem. So, where’s the truth lie?
At GDC 2018 Laidlaw elaborated on his reasons for leaving BioWare, and painted a less-than-promising picture of Dragon Age 4’s development.
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“I wanted to try a new challenge, and I knew that [the staff reassignments] would change the [Dragon Age 4] date. I was going to have a very small skeleton crew. I’m lucky because Patrick Weekes is an exceptional lead writer, Daniel Kading is an exceptional lead designer. There were two very veteran designers who could hold a vision. I thought if I’m ever gonna go, this is the least disruptive time for me to leave. So, I’d be stunned if whatever plan I had remained completely unchanged.”
Laidlaw also hinted at what his story for Dragon Age 4 would have involved. Apparently, he was planning to focus on Solas, the elven apostate who was central to Dragon Age: Inquisition…
“There’s obviously a route to go with the Solas’ revelations. If you’ve played [the Dragon Age: Inquisition Trespasser DLC], you will know what logically will follow.”
Of course, Dragon Age 4 could also go in a completely different direction. Laidlaw says he expects the game will go through a redesign phase, and has heard through the grapevine that BioWare may be planning to go the reboot route. Whatever BioWare ends up doing with the game, don’t expect to play it for a while.
Any Dragon Age fans out there? What would you like to see from the next game in the series?
