Today we’re uncovering the latest news updates on Dragon Age Dreadwolf’s development since early June when Dreadwolf’s title was unveiled and we received a trailer on Dragon Age: Absolution, a Dragon Age Netflix show coming in December. In the past two months, we’ve had more Developer Stories from the Dragon Age team, there have been a few new hirings and departures, some production updates and teases, an inkling on a Dragon Age: Origins remastered project, a statement on BIPOC representation in DAD and a lot more that I’m going to explore in this video. First up, we’ve got to talk about this Dragon Age: Origins remaster.
Dragon Age Origins Remaster Probability:
In February, VentureBeat Reporter Jeff Grubb claimed that EA had no plans for a remastered Dragon Age trilogy similar to Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Completely excluding the idea we all had for a full revamp of the Dragon Age games so far. However, he that report wasn’t indicative of a Dragon Age: Origins remaster.
On July 19th, Former Executive Producer Mark Darrah replied to someone asking if he thinks we’ll ever get a Dragon Age: Origins remaster. Mark said that his probability is way higher than it was in 2019.
Now if you’ve followed me or this story since way back when, we explored that in 2018, Mark Darrah was hopeful for a Dragon Age: Origins remaster, however, it would be an involved job, he said.
Right now though, in 2022, Mark Darrah is way more hopeful than he’s ever been for a Dragon Age: Origins remaster, so surely that’s something to be excited about. We may not get a full Dragon Age Legendary Edition remastered package, but there’s hope for at least a Dragon Age: Origins remaster. I think it would be perfect, a great way to market Dragon Age to new players before/after Dragon Age: Dreadwolf while offering fixes, optimisations and massive improvements to a thirteen-year-old game.
Obviously, we should take Mark’s high hopes with a pinch of salt as he doesn’t work at BioWare anymore, and he’s just speculating, but even so the idea alone of a Dragon Age: Origins remaster is so exciting, I really hope something can become of it, even if it’s after Dragon Age: Dreadwolf’s release, given BioWare’s current timeframe—unless they get a third party company to work on this project, and somehow manage to get it out before DAD, I wouldn’t expect this sort of project anytime soon. But we’ll just have to wait and see if BioWare surprise us.
Staff Departures & Hirings:
Animation Director Mike Jungbluth has left the Dragon Age team. He tweeted, “Today is bittersweet as I leave BioWare for my next adventure. Direction is lighting a fire and passing the torch. And that creative fire burns bright in the team I helped grow here. To add a bit of myself into a series like Dragon Age has been a privilege I won’t ever forget.”
Publication Resetera reported that: "Mary DeMarle joins BioWare as Senior Narrative Director"
Mary is one of the people behind the story of the Guardians of the Galaxy game and Deus Ex. Now she is working for BioWare. Could it mean Mass Effect or Dragon Age?
Lead Game Product Manager Haider CW left the Dragon Age team, Haider tweeted, “Dareth shiral #BioWare. I have always been a huge fan & working here was like a childhood dream come true. I feel so fortunate to have worked on the next #DragonAge. It’s going to be an awesome game & I can’t wait to play it as a fan. Excited for what’s next.”
In-Person Studio Meeting:
BioWare devs are somewhat returning to the office having largely worked from home with the continued effects of the pandemic. Producer Crystal McCord tweeted, “We had our first optional "in person" team meeting today. There were 10 people in the room, and 40 over zoom. It felt great, and I'm glad to be able to connect with coworkers in a way we haven't been able to for 2.5 years!”
BioWare Developer Story – Pride Edition:
For us, Pride doesn’t end after June. This special entry in our Developer Story series invites some of our LGBTQIA+ colleagues to talk about what the studio and its games mean to them as queer folks.
BIPOC Representation:
Finally, we have the last story regarding BIPOC representation in Dragon Age. I didn’t see the full extent of this discussion on Twitter, however, essentially fans were understandably and in their own right critiquing Dragon Age’s lack of BIPOC. In the end, Creative Director John Epler tweeted the following:
Before I return to the land of shitposting, one more thing I want to add - it's entirely, completely fair to say that DA has had problems with BIPOC representation in past games.
Addressing this is something we are committed to. It is not wrong to ask us to do better on this.
But this is legitimately the most I can do right now - offer assurances. At some point, we'll have details and you can judge our work properly.
Every game we make mistakes and every game we try to do better than the last.
And in doing better, we'll also make some fresh new mistakes.
And we'll keep trying to do better.