Earlier this week, former Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah suggested that the IP may now be dead under EA, following a series of blunders with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Darrah has also now touched on the idea of a Dragon Age remaster, but unfortunately, the outlook there isn't promising either. 

In an interview with FRVR, Darrah explained that a Mass Effect‑style remaster trilogy for Dragon Age would be extremely difficult for EA to produce. While Mass Effect’s Legendary Edition was made possible thanks to the entire trilogy running on Unreal Engine, Dragon Age’s early titles were built on BioWare’s own in-house engine, and EA no longer employs anyone with expertise using those tools. For Dragon Age Inquisition, BioWare moved over to the Frostbite engine, a change that also presented a ton of technical challenges for the studio, which were well documented back in 2014.

Darrah went on to explain that BioWare once explored the idea of a “Champion’s Edition” collection for Origins, Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, but the technical hurdles quickly became apparent. Origins runs on the Eclipse Engine and Dragon Age 2 uses the Lycium Engine, which both evolved from BioWare’s old Aurora technology. To give you an idea of just how old the Aurora engine is, it is the engine that powered Knights of the Old Republic, which came out all the way back in 2003.

According to Darrah, producing a Dragon Age remaster trilogy would require building “a brand new team” dedicated solely to the project. He added that EA is unlikely to expand BioWare’s headcount for such an undertaking, meaning any remaster team would pull developers away from other work. Despite the challenges, Darrah still believes a modernised version of Dragon Age: Origins would sell “super well”, particularly given how much room there is to improve the game’s graphics, which weren't great even back in 2009.

KitGuru Says: While a remaster may not be possible at this stage, a remake of Dragon Age Origins could happen on another engine, such as Unreal Engine 5. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like EA is all that interested in investing in BioWare at this stage. That could change if Mass Effect 5 turns out to be a hit but for now, the studio isn't exactly in EA's good books after misses like Anthem, Mass Effect Andromeda and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. 

The future of Dragon Age looks bleak, according to former BioWare creative lead Mark Darrah, who says he doesn’t believe EA will greenlight another entry in the franchise, at least not anytime soon.

Speaking with FRVR, Darrah explained that the current structure at both BioWare and EA makes a new Dragon Age project highly unlikely. After Dragon Age: Inquisition became the studio’s best‑selling game, it still took a decade for Dragon Age: The Veilguard to release, despite Darrah repeatedly trying to get another game off the ground.

“I think it was happening because of EA’s complicated relationship to shipping games at all,” he said. “Someone once described to me EA as a hedge fund with a video game hobby that it wished it didn’t spend so much money on. And I think that remains true.” Following Veilguard’s worrying sales, Darrah added: “I have no concept of who could, would, possibly pitch [a new Dragon Age] at EA.”

Darrah also described EA’s internal politics around dormant IP, saying multiple stakeholders often emerge to block new pitches. Even if another EA studio attempted to revive Dragon Age, BioWare leadership would likely intervene to keep the IP under their control, but Darrah also doesn’t believe BioWare itself is in a position to pitch or build another game in the series.

These comments arrive after Dragon Age: The Veilguard faced heavy criticism from fans. The game launched in 2024 after a troubled development cycle and was widely criticised for its writing, lack of meaningful player choice, and a tone that strayed far from the series’ darker fantasy roots.

KitGuru Says: After Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I would be incredibly surprised if Dragon Age ever returned. It would seem that former BioWare devs have a similar opinion. 

BioWare veteran Mark Darrah, who we recently saw put out a defence of Anthem, has also potentially found a solution for the issue of video game budgets reaching unsustainable levels that isn't just 'hope you have a hit live service game to keep paying everyone.' It's a solution taken from the film industry, which basically points to something game creators like Hideo Kojima were already doing, and argues that more creators should take note. Spotted by Eurogamer, Darrah believes that game publishers and developers can help get their games made through product placement, just like the kind we saw in […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/bioware-vet-argues-product-placement-could-help-studios-pay-for-their-games/

In early January, 22-year BioWare veteran James Ohlen suddenly left Archetype Entertainment, the Wizards of the Coast-backed studio he founded years earlier to create the Mass Effect-like sci-fi action RPG EXODUS. With the game now less than a year away from its early 2027 launch window, Ohlen's departure rang like an ominous bell for many fans, who feared something was wrong with the project. However, an interview published a few hours ago on PC Gamer should go a long way toward assuaging those concerns. Ohlen revealed that he suffered severe burnout while serving as both head of Archetype and creative director […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/bioware-vet-left-exodus-burnout-kotor-online-swtor-reboot-ea/