With the next Dragon Age game expected to release around 2023, today I’m investigating the game’s development so far, exploring many aspects of its entire production stages and delving into the things that you (absolutely) need to know about this game’s progression.
Thanks to many of Jason Schrier’s articles over the past couple of years, it's no secret that the next Dragon Age has already had quite the tumultuous time in its early stages of development from: a live service reboot, pandemic challenges, key staff departures, crunch working conditions, and a lack of knowledge and experience regarding the Frostbite engine - It’s certainly been hectic within the Dragon Age team. However, not all is lost.
Despite the challenges, the next Dragon Age is currently powering through its production stages, BioWare are creating the next Dragon Age with Anthem’s tools and codebase to save time, their expertise with the Frostbite engine have grown tremendously, the team are not recreating the next Dragon Age from scratch like previous titles, the planned live service and multiplayer elements have been canned for a laser-focussed single-player experience, and the studio are renovating inner management to create a friendly, happier working environment with no crunch conditions.
As it currently stands, there are many indicators that the developers working on Dragon Age 4 will ensure that the company's previous mistakes will not be repeated this time around. If you know anything about Anthem and Andromeda’s development hell, you’ll know that they both shared the same patterns and mistakes that ultimately led to each game’s failure. BioWare are trying very hard to avoid falling into those same routines with the next Dragon Age. And, based on Schrier’s reports with staff close to the project, it seems like the team have resolved the majority of those mistakes.
With that said, let’s investigate further and dive into the major production updates of the next Dragon Age specific to each year, analysing what we know so far since the very start of Dragon Age 4’s production, working our way up to 2021 as the game progresses with significant development updates.
2015:
Following Dragon Age: Inquisition's Trespasser DLC release in 2015, the next Dragon Age known internally as Project 'Joplin' began its very early stages of production with Dragon Age Veteran Mike Laidlaw as the Creative Director.
Previously in 2015; before the Trespasser DLC’s release, Lead Writer David Gaider was moved from the Dragon Age writing team and on to BioWare’s new I.P Anthem. As David was shuffled, Patrick Weekes became the new Lead Writer of the Dragon Age franchise.
According to developers familiar with the project, the plans for the next Dragon Age were very exciting and the team had learned from the studio’s previous hiccups. They had a set of established tools, a feasible scope, and they had leaders who said they were committed to avoiding the mistakes they’d made on Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Project 'Joplin' was apparently centred on spies embarking on heists in Tevinter, smaller in scale than Inquisition, however, larger in player choice, followers, reactivity, and depth. There was an emphasis on repeat play and reactivity. The goal was to focus as much as possible on choice and consequence, with smaller areas and fewer fetch quests than Inquisition.
While it was still very early, some of the developers had put their best work into it. It was going to be ambitious, and many developers were thrilled about the possibilities.
2016:
However, the first major bump in the road occurred in 2016, one year after development had started. Mass Effect: Andromeda required all hands-on deck, and so, many members of the Dragon Age team were moved to work on Andromeda; these developers are mentioned in the credits of Andromeda as the 'Dragon Age Finaling Team.'
In February 2016; after a year of working on Anthem, David Gaider left BioWare seeking a new challenge. In reality, Gaider’s narrative direction for Anthem’s story was ridiculed by many developers who wanted to tell a different story from BioWare, Gaider began to feel less keen to play this game he was working on, and with his departure, Anthem’s story was rebooted with new lead writers.
2017:
After Andromeda's release in March 2017, it was back to working on 'Joplin' for the majority of the shifted Dragon Age developers. For some, it was refreshing to get back to working on the next Dragon Age. However, it wasn't long before BioWare's next releasing title - Anthem was suffering through development troubles. By the latter half of 2017, Anthem was in real trouble, so EA took drastic action.
In October, 2017, EA cancelled 'Joplin's' development and moved the bulk of the project's staff onto Anthem. With two years of development on a project that will never see the light of day, Mike Laidlaw departed BioWare that same month.
Alexis Kennedy was previously working on ‘Joplin' too, however, according to his LinkedIn profile, he left the project in October. It seems his work only extended to 'Joplin', Mark Darrah later confirmed that his work will not be in the next project.
Towards the end of 2017, as the majority of ‘Joplin's’ core team went to work on Anthem, a very small skeleton team stuck around to work on a brand-new Dragon Age project under the new codename: 'Morrison.' Previous Art Director Matthew Goldman took over as the Creative Director.
The plan for 'Morrison' was to reboot the next Dragon Age with Anthem's codebase and tools of the Frostbite engine. However, unlike ‘Joplin’ which focused on a single-player experience with Mike Laidlaw at the helm, ‘Morrison’ was planned with a live service component, built for long-term gameplay and revenue.
A few developers working on 'Morrison' stated that this game will change drastically in the next two years, however, that's been the case with every Dragon Age game. The point is that the project will take many different shapes until it feels like a Dragon Age game. Even we can tell that this statement is true today given the recent in-flux news updates of the next Dragon Age in 2021.
Regardless, around the end of 2017 with a very small skeleton team following a different approach and a new Creative Director, the next Dragon Age game entered its early pre-production stages while the bulk of the Dragon Age team like Mark Darrah worked on Anthem’s development.
2018:
The next Dragon Age was teased at The Game Awards in December 2018. However, unbenounced to the entire fandom at the time, we didn't know the game was rebooted, and therefore, as fans do, we presumed that this title would release soon.
In reality, when 'The Dread Wolf Rises' teaser dropped, the new iteration of Dragon Age 4 had only been in very early pre-production with a small team for about a year. The game's production stages hadn’t even started. However, a few of the lead developers working on the next Dragon Age confirmed that they are creating the next entry with "an eye to what the fans love about Dragon Age, which is easy because they (themselves) love Dragon Age."
In any event, this teaser wasn’t supposed to act as an official announcement, but more of a message to the fans that something is happening with Dragon Age.
2019:
Anthem shipped in February, 2019, and following its release, the shuffled Dragon Age developers including Executive Producer Mark Darrah returned to work on the next iteration of Dragon Age. With the Dragon Age staff back on the project, fully operational with a decent sized team, the studio proceeded with the pre-production stages of ‘Morrison’.
Within BioWare, the pre-production stages of any project can have a size between 5, 30 and 60 people. In this early stage, core concepts, prototypes and system developments are heavily iterated on. Considering BioWare creates story-driven games, plenty of time is spent on creating many tools for the game’s narrative. Other focuses during this stage are on the game’s key features, as well as market research.
Throughout 2019 and beyond, a few key practices during pre-production stages have been revealed like voice acting, concept art, in-engine prototypes, gameplay tests, that one uprezzed Solas HD TV Screen model, etc. The team also moved to new offices in Downtown Edmonton.
However, in August of 2019, Dragon Age Producer Fernando Melo left the studio, he said that his work of “guiding the team through EA’s concept and early production phases” had been completed, and he felt it was the least messy time to leave the company.
Even further, Fernando said: “With a great game leadership team in place, a fantastic creative vision, and some of the best devs in the world. ‘Morrison’ is well underway to becoming the definitive Dragon Age experience - and (he’s) incredibly proud and honoured to have played a part in that. (He’ll) be eagerly awaiting the opportunity to experience the next DA as a fan this time around.”
2020:
In March, 2020, at the height of the pandemic, BioWare held a team meeting reviewing the story for the new Dragon Age. Lead Producer, Scylla Costa said that everyone was very excited, and the team still believe that they have the opportunity to launch the best story with Dragon Age 4. The characters are amazing and many of the developers are dying to say more.
The team had just started the main production stages of ‘Morrison’ having spent at least two years in pre-production. Throughout the current production stages of ‘Morrison’, the team will be going through the whole development of content and features. At this point, the team has the majority of the game’s systems in place, some new systems may be created with the implementation of newer features. The team also starts growing tremendously bigger as the development progresses.
The Dragon Age team commendably have and continue to endure through the pandemic with adaptations and major changes to the communication and development of ‘Morrison’, after a few growing pains, production was able to steadily continue throughout the months of 2020.
A few examples of work that indicate towards the main production of the next Dragon Age have also been revealed online like working-romance scenes, playtesting content, milestone progression, patented mechanics, etc.
BioWare also revealed three teases and trailers for the next Dragon Age that are indicative of its current production. At EA Play 2020, 12 seconds of in-engine footage was shown. Gamescom 2020 revealed an in-depth, behind the scenes look at the pre-production stages, and The Game Awards 2020 featured a cinematic trailer regarding the characters and locations we’ll witness in ‘Morrison’.
In November, BioWare confirmed Project ‘Morrison’ in BioWare’s book of Stories & Secrets from 25 years of Game Development. This outright confirmation of Project ‘Morrison’ also confirmed Jason Scheirier’s previous reports on Anthem, ‘Joplin’, ‘Morrison’ and the in-flux development.
In this book, BioWare revealed that ‘Morrison’ was being helmed by Executive Producer Mark Darrah, and the game will take players to Tevinter as events of Inquisition and Trespasser threaten to forever change Thedas.”
Another major insight this development book unveiled regarded that enigmatic “Wolf-Rook" book that Mark Darrah has teased for half a decade. Apparently, the red book was an internal guide for developer and publisher eyes only that summarized the vision of ‘Joplin.’ The ‘Joplin’ project has since been revised to such an extent that its code name changed to “Morrison,” but the red book still contains plenty of ideas likely to appear in the next Dragon Age.
And, the final insight revealed in BioWare’s 25 years book was former General Manager Casey Hudson’s vision for the studio going forward. Casey said that BioWare can’t go back to where they’ve been – the way that they worked with crunching projects for six weeks. That’s not where the studio is headed.
BioWare used to exemplify humility and integrity with a passion for excellence and courageous creativity. However, they were courageous because they didn’t know better. The team would try things and fail and try something else until they got it right, it was very experimental. Once they met the consequences of failure, they discovered they could very easily start retreating. And at that point, they realised it takes courage to put yourself out there and try something new. BioWare are not super young and inexperienced anymore. They do know better, but they still have to try and do some crazy stuff anyway.
At the end of November, Gameplay Designer Melissa Janowicz decided to leave BioWare after three years.
In December, just before Dragon Age Day, Mark Darrah and Casey Hudson revealed that they’re both leaving BioWare too. Christian Dailey was shuffled from Anthem Next on to Dragon Age as the new Executive Producer and Gary McKay acted as the interim General Manager.
Casey and Mark both believed they were stepping away from Dragon Age knowing that it would be okay and in-safe hands. Mark, in particular, shared a few words about how he’s confident the next Dragon Age will show that BioWare remains committed to this kind of game, and the team has a lot to show us.
The Edmonton Journal reported that Casey Hudson’s final day was December 11th, however, Mark Darrah stayed on until February 2021 to help with Christian Dailey’s Executive Producer transition.
2021:
In February, 2021, BioWare revealed that the Anthem Next reboot was cancelled, Christian Dailey, who previously worked on the reboot, shared that the team made this decision to keep a laser focus on their efforts as a studio and strengthen the next Dragon Age, Mass Effect and SWTOR. The Anthem teams were moved to work on each project.
Merely a day after Anthem’s cancellation, Jason Schreier via Bloomberg reported that Electronic Arts had made a major pivot on the next Dragon Age game, allowing the developers to remove all planned multiplayer components from the game, according to people familiar with the matter.
Jason shared further that the next Dragon Age, which doesn’t yet have an official title or release date, had previously been designed with a heavy multiplayer component, said the people, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the press. However, in recent months, the next Dragon Age has transformed into a single-player-only game after EA was stung by a recent multiplayer flop.
Apparently, during development, some members of BioWare’s leadership team fought to pivot the next Dragon Age back to a single-player-only game, according to the people familiar with the discussions.
Given that this drastic single-player change happened within recent months in early 2021, and Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah left BioWare in December 2020 and February 2021, surely the two of them knew about this, and potentially, fought for a Dragon Age game designed to be strictly single-player. If so, it would explain why they both left, believing the next Dragon Age was in safe hands and why they felt good about leaving. Hopefully, that’s the reason...
While the single-player turnaround is incredibly exciting news, and definitely something the entire fandom needed to hear, there are still many lingering questions regarding the removed planned multiplayer components like: how many multiplayer components were implemented in the first place? Is it going to be an easy process to remove it all? Will we see signs of the planned live service content in the final game? Is this removal going to delay the project further? Etc.
While I’d love BioWare to come out with those answers, the only reason this report was revealed was because it was leaked by some of the developers who were not authorised to speak out, however, they wanted this story to be shared after Anthem’s disappointing news. But it was, very much, a leaked report from internal staff, neither EA, nor BioWare replied to this article in a formal fashion.
Regardless, whatever live service elements that were planned have since been removed.
The only upsetting part about this single-player rework is the fact that ‘Joplin’ was cancelled in the first place, and Mike Laidlaw left BioWare because of ‘Joplin’s’ live service reboot in 2017.
Like, in hindsight what was the point? It really is quite frustrating that the BioWare developers have had this in-flux development that has wasted production time and influenced key staff to leave, only to then return to a very similar project. It would’ve been easier if EA just let BioWare do what they wanted to do in the first place, like they are now… but at least the tides have changed, and the Dragon Age team can focus on creating the best single player experiences. And as a silver lining, at least aspects of ‘Joplin’ will still be used for ‘Morrsion’, as the Wolf Rook book confirmed - so not all is lost.
In the following months after, a few key staff departed BioWare. In March, 14 year Narrative Quality Designer Arone Le Bray left the Dragon Age team.
In May, Audio Artist Presley Hynes left the Dragon Age team.
And very recently, in June, Product Director Gabe Heiland left the Dragon Age team.
Each developer has left obviously for their own reasons which could be anything, but even so, it is sad to see that in the past 6 months, there have been six key departures in very different departments on the Dragon Age team.
Most recently, Gary McKay was confirmed as BioWare’s Studio General Manager. He was the interim GM, however, he’s now taken the position permanently. Gary is committed to creating BioWare games with a laser-focus, here’s hoping he can take the studio into a fruitful direction.
With that, we’re up to speed on the next Dragon Age’s development as of June, 2021. The next stages of production for the project will be Alpha, Beta and Launch.
As mentioned previously, the next Dragon Age has an estimated release window of 2023, this was reinforced further in EA’s May 2021 earnings call that focused on the immediate future of 2022. There was no word on the next Dragon Age which means the game will release in 2023 or even further.
Conclusions:
With this release window so far away, does BioWare have enough time to create an epic Dragon Age title? Well, in an attempt to work out how long Dragon Age 4 has been in development for...
Project 'Joplin' was in pre-production for around two years, between late 2015 - late 2017. It was then canned and rebooted.
Project 'Morrison' started its very early pre-production with a skeleton team in late 2017, the entire team joined the project in early 2019. They entered full-production in early 2020. So, ‘Morrison was in its pre-production stages for three years, and since then, it’s been in full-production for one year.
So, with still another two years to go before release, do BioWare have enough time to create the best Dragon Age possible?
Well, in a 2014 interview with Mike Laidlaw, conducted by UK newspaper The Guardian. Dragon Age: Inquisition's production had been about three years, but taking in the early concepting, it would've been four years as a whole.
So, yes BioWare seemingly do have enough time to crack on with the following production stages and release an epic title. Although the team do have their work cut out for them, I have hope that they can deliver an amazing Dragon Age game dedicated to the fans. With plenty of time spent on the pre-production stages, hopefully the team has learned from Anthem and Andromeda's rough early stages, and they've conceptualised the development enough that production can carry on at ease.
In summary, Dragon Age 4 is certainly going to be a product of many things, a game created through a global pandemic with a live service reboot turnaround, a cancelled previous iteration with major staff departures, and a total rework of BioWare’s internal management to stop crunching practices.
Unfortunately, only time will tell if BioWare can pull this off. I am cautiously optimistic and I think that’s the best way to approach the next Dragon Age. I wholeheartedly trust the entire team, and that’s where the majority of my optimism lies, in the dedicated and passionate people creating this next instalment. Anyhow, until the next major update, you’re already in the right place for all your Dragon Age content!
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