BioWare shared a quick update on its next entry in the Dragon Age franchise, Dragon Age 4, in a blog post on its site. Development on the game is going well, says the developer, and is currently “right in the middle of production.”
An update on Dragon Age production and more from GM, Gary McKay.https://t.co/qpHX99MdiH pic.twitter.com/mvw4RjIwyA
— BioWare (@bioware) February 23, 2022
For additional context, BioWare seems to place the production stage of game development somewhere near its midpoint. The studio has already completed the concept and preproduction phases, “so we’re now focused on building out our vision: Creating amazing environments, deep characters, strong gameplay, impactful writing, emotional cinematics — and much more.” Once the production phase of Dragon Age 4‘s development is over, the studio will start making playable alphas and betas for the game, which naturally leads up to a full release.
Fans shouldn’t expect a new Dragon Age game to hit store shelves anytime soon, though. Throughout the year, BioWare will be giving aditional updates on the game’s development, mostly through blog posts and social content.
While today’s post about Dragon Age 4‘s development is reassuring, it comes after multiple high-profile developers have left BioWare. At the end of 2020, Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah departed, alongside BioWare general manager Casey Hudson. This past November, the franchise’s creative director, Matt Goldman, also left the studio. Half an hour after BioWare uploaded today’s post, another member of the studio’s team, Dragon Age executive producer Christian Dailey, announced that he would be leaving the company as well.
As for BioWare’s upcoming Mass Effect game, it seems like development is still very early on. The team working on the game is “actively prototyping new ideas and experiences.”