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Laidlaw: Dragon Age 4's dev team was reduced to "a very small skeleton crew” [UP: ominous tweet]

Nirolak

Nirolak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,660
UPDATE:

Sotonian said:
Sorry for the large bump, but thought this didnt really deserve its own thread. One of the writers posted this onto twitter, seems potentially ominous from the way its written

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Mike Laidlaw (Dragon Age's Creative Director) confirmed the BioWare staff reassignments in his GDC panel when he was talking a bit about where the series was heading.

USGamer said:
Ultimately, Laidlaw felt it was time to leave BioWare behind regardless of Dragon Age's loose threads. "I wanted to try a new challenge, and I knew that [the staff reassignments] would change the date," he says. "I was going to have a very small skeleton crew, and 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, and it was going to move down to a very small team.

"I thought if I'm ever gonna go, this is the least disruptive time for me to leave. So I would be stunned if whatever plan I had remained completely unchanged."
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Source: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/fo...t-on-dragon-age-4s-development-possible-story
 
Last edited by a moderator:
JoeBoy101

JoeBoy101

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Oct 25, 2017
751
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bluexy

bluexy

Comics Enabler & Freelance Games Journalist
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Oct 25, 2017
14,524
BioWare shifted all their development resources into Anthem, right? DA team will probably grow back up to something more substantial after Anthem's finally gold.
 
Realeza

Realeza

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,904
Poor Bioware. From ME2 to this, it has to be one of the biggest downfalls for a gaming company.
 
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Nirolak

Nirolak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,660
bluexy said:
BioWare shifted all their development resources into Anthem, right? DA team will probably grow back up to something more substantial after Anthem's finally gold.
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Well see, that's the interesting thing.

These types of games don't usually get smaller development teams post launch due to how much content you have to create for post game updates and expansions, and that's before you even get to considering a potential sequel if you don't intend to just run the first game forever.
 
hank_tree

hank_tree

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,596
DA is in a tough spot post-Witcher 3. Look at Mass Effect Andromeda which is effectively an Inquisiton reskin in a lot of ways and it was torn apart.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
116,049
I hated Inquisition so damn much, and this is still really sad to see. Origins was a great game, and neither of the sequels could live up to it. Was hoping they'd find a way to turn the series around. Poor Dragon Age.
 
VaporSnake

VaporSnake

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,603
We should probably start preparing for the Bioware funeral at this point, though they might be out of room at the graveyard behind EA HQ.
 
Demacabre

Demacabre

Member
Nov 20, 2017
2,058
Does Skeleton mean there is only 4 people in the crew?

All joking aside, can Bioware just do something for the fans of their franchises, please? All we want is another Dragon Age. I get Anthem is some sort of Destiny killer/answer/whatever, but ffs - a good and meaty Dragon Age is a lay up for success.
 
CommodoreKong

CommodoreKong

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,734
bluexy said:
BioWare shifted all their development resources into Anthem, right? DA team will probably grow back up to something more substantial after Anthem's finally gold.
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If Anthem does well EA will probably shift more development resources into ongoing content for Anthem and Anthem 2.
If it does poorly...well.
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Mondy

Mondy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,456
If Anthem fails, Bioware is going behind the barn. Blind Freddy could see it coming.
 
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Nirolak

Nirolak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,660
EA is pretty unlikely to straight close BioWare versus just reassigning their staff to DICE and Motive, though you may consider that the same thing.
 
Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,556
Dragon Age has been successful to date, so I see little reason to sound the panic alarm just yet.

Just because they're focusing heavily on Anthem at the moment doesn't mean they aren't going to focus heavily on Dragon Age afterwards. That's Bioware's modus operandi now.

If anything, the IP in jeopardy is Mass Effect.
 

FormatCompatible

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,071
Zedark said:
Bioware dead = no Dragon Age 4 :(

I'm quite conflicted: Anthem will probably be everything I dislike about EA's games, yet I really like Dragon Age, so I have to hope it'll be a success :(
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My question is if Anthem is a huge success, what's going to prevent EA from cancelling all other Bioware projects to have the team concentrate on making content for the game?

Edit: beaten but yeah, I don't expect anything outside of more Anthem from Bioware for the foreseeable future.
 
Saint-14

Saint-14

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Nov 2, 2017
14,477
I think there is no chance that Anthem will bomb, the type of the game is just too popular to fail, it'll also have massive marketing too for sure.
 

rras1994

Member
Nov 4, 2017
5,746
Nirolak said:
Well see, that's the interesting thing.

These types of games don't usually get smaller development teams post launch due to how much content you have to create for post game updates and expansions, and that's before you even get to considering a potential sequel if you don't intend to just run the first game forever.
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They've been hiring for Anthem heavily in BioWare Austin for a long time. And don't forget they are also moving BioWare Edmonton to a new bigger space as well. It seems they are trying to expand overall.
 
Kuga

Kuga

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,274
Demacabre said:
All joking aside, can Bioware just do something for the fans of their franchises, please?
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Bioware is wholly owned by EA, and EA is only interested in "maximizing shareholder value". Nothing will happen unless it is seen as financially viable... and even then, do you really trust EA to do it right?
 
wtd2009

wtd2009

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Oct 27, 2017
987
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I can't imagine we won't see da4 in some form, it's the only predictably successful thing in the pipeline I'd think. Still, it sucks that it's just kind of been pushed aside.
 
MetroidPrimeRib

MetroidPrimeRib

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Oct 25, 2017
4,964
Saint-14 said:
I think there is no chance that Anthem will bomb, the type of the game is just too popular to fail, it'll also have massive marketing too for sure.
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"Too big to fail" sounds like Battlefront 2, which no doubt made money but not even close to what it could have. You don't know what their sales expectations are. They could be absolutely ludicrous.
 
saenima

saenima

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,892
I think i've made my peace with Bioware.

What's in a name anyway?

I'd rather give my attention to Obsidian and Larian.
 
Zedark

Zedark

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Oct 25, 2017
14,719
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FormatCompatible said:
My question is if Anthem is a huge success, what's going to prevent EA from cancelling all other Bioware projects to have the team concentrate on making content for the game?
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Yeah, that's the other doom scenario. Damned if you, damned if you don't :(

saenima said:
I think i've made my peace with Bioware.

What's in a name anyway?

I'd rather give my attention to Obsidian and Larian.
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Dragon Age, unfortunately.
 

rras1994

Member
Nov 4, 2017
5,746
Disclaimer said:
Dragon Age has been successful to date, so I see little reason to sound the panic alarm just yet.

Just because they're focusing heavily on Anthem at the moment doesn't mean they aren't going to focus heavily on Dragon Age afterwards. That's Bioware's modus operandi now.

If anything, the IP in jeopardy is Mass Effect.
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It's not that unusual for them to take all the resources for their next project, as they did a similar thing for Dragon Age Inquisition, as well as having to use other studio resources for MEA as well.
 
Sgt. Demblant

Sgt. Demblant

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Oct 25, 2017
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I see two outcomes for Bioware.
Anthem is a success and Bioware is forced to milk it until the end of days and is ultimately shut down when players get tired of it and revenue plunges.
Or Anthem disappoints and Bioware is shut down sooner.

I hope I'm wrong. Dragon Age Origins is still my favorite western rpg. And despite their faults, I also liked a lot of things about 2 and Inquisition.
But I have zero trust in EA.
 
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Nirolak

Nirolak

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Oct 25, 2017
5,660
rras1994 said:
They've been hiring for Anthem heavily in BioWare Austin for a long time. And don't forget they are also moving BioWare Edmonton to a new bigger space as well. It seems they are trying to expand overall.
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This is true, and I'm sure the current plan is "Well, we'll just grow large enough to support both titles."

However, the demands for development keep going up, which often makes it really impractical.

Both primary competitors for Anthem (Destiny and The Division) have 1000+ person development teams, and BioWare is no where near that large yet.
 
Saint-14

Saint-14

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
14,477
MetroidPrimeRib said:
"Too big to fail" sounds like Battlefront 2, which no doubt made money but not even close to what it could have. You don't know what their sales expectations are. They could be absolutely ludicrous.
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BFII wasn't a bomb though? It was down 1 million than what they were expecting but that is certainly not enough to label it as a bomb.
 
Stilton Disco

Stilton Disco

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
581
UK
The Bioware that used to create the games that made them such a beloved Developer simply cannot exist under EA.

The fact that Dragonage, what was once such a cult classic series with so many old school sensibilities has ended up little more than an afterthought that's a hairs breadth away from being flat out cancelled and abandoned, while the studio focuses solely on a glorified, trend chasing Skinner box that is fundamentally incompatible with their strengths as Developers, is just so gods damned sad.
 
Nere

Nere

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Dec 8, 2017
2,159
Damn and I loved the Dragon Age series, what happeend? Thought Inquisition was a success.
 
Doom_Bringer

Doom_Bringer

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
3,181
I can't believe these guys sold themselves to EA. They would have done a lot better with MS or someone else
 
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