DA4 Won't Come Out Until 2021??

I'm assuming the part of the DA team that helped out on MEA is finished with that project and it's just a question of whether they moved back to DA, moved over to help on the New IP, or split between the two. We know Blair moved back to DA, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. If they all moved back to DA, then they should have ~30% of their team together again.

It's important to point out that it wasn't the plan to have the DA team help out on MEA originally. So, undoubtedly that set DA4 back some right there. And now with the New IP being delayed, it potentially could set it back even further. But who knows how they might reallocate staff over the coming months. The New IP is obviously the priority right now, we'll just have to keep an ear out for any other staff moving over...

But as far as how much full production time is required, I can't imagine anything less than 2 years, possibly longer depending on how ambitious they are with it. Witcher 3 for example had 3.5 years of production, with a larger team. So it depends on what their goals are. It's great they have that foundation now with Frostbite, but now they'll likely build on that with a number of new systems into the game. Also, people are clamoring for more robust side quests, potentially adding more cinematics/mocap/etc., more hand-crafted scenes in general... which chews up a lot of time. Mike pointed out combat was going to be another important element they're going to focus on in the next game - more mocap & animation work? Move to Photogrammetry for environments? Hopefully, a lot of this they've been prototyping already with the small team they've had on it during pre-production.

The extended pre-production time though will undoubtedly be helpful though and hopefully translate to a more efficient full production period. I am thankful they've had this period of time in the planning stage as it is the most important in game development. Not many games have that opportunity. My confidence in (the eventual) DA4 is definitely stronger for it.

Ah, I kept confusing Dylan with Dolan. The meme duck was Dolan. Still, the impression will linger

I don't see how you're getting that at all. If we don't hear anything about DA4 in the next few months it's because they're going to focus on the new IP. EA and Bioware will want this new franchise to get top billing for now, as it's got to build a new audience from scratch. They can get away with officially announcing and releasing DA4 in a shorter time frame because the series has a fanbase already.

By the time the game comes out, this will be Bioware's first new IP in over 10 years. They'll want to get the hype train in full motion to make sure it succeeds.

We probably won't hear anything official about DA4 until the New IP is announced, or even released. I wouldn't worry about it for the moment - tweets from the DA team certainly indicate that they are making A Thing.

(Also: have you tried Pillars of Eternity? Great fantasy cRPG, and the second one comes out early next year.)

You don't see what exactly? That was the point. Not hearing about DA4-> focusing on new IP which will be the main focus.

Either way, it's still looking as early as 2019 for DA4, that's still 2 years from now, no matter when they announce anything.

yeah that and the worlds have had to be completely rebuilt on the new engine as this was the first time that both DA and ME have used Frostbite so it was always going to take a little longer now each series has had a game on the new engine hopefully the next step should be easier. As it's just a case of building on what they made in DAI/MEA and getting it right.

Personally, I'm hoping BioWare/EA won't risk another rushed release. MEA's mixed reception (and the Montreal studio's fate if the rumors are to be believed), should be ample motivation to make sure the next DA sticks the landing. If that places them between console generations, they'll just have to deal with it.

Another motivating factor is the bar for a good RPG is simply higher now than it was when DAI was released. As we all know - Love it, hate it, or in-between, the next DA is going to be weighed against the Witcher 3, and to a lesser extent games like HZD, and possibly ME: Shadow of War, RDR2, CP2077 if they wind up being GotY contenders.

While we wait, there's still the possibility BioWare may try to placate the fandom with a DA spin-off game (or two...). Apart from the feelers Mark put out for a tactics game, we know that Mike has met with Failbetter at least a couple of times. So I wouldn't be surprised to see something from them again...

Failbetter did Fallen London; were they also the ones who did The Last Court? I actually really liked that game, it was a nice method of providing some interactive lore to the setting without having to be a full game. I wouldn't mind more of those. I would probably not play the theoretical tactics game but would be interested in learning about it. I would think that would be a spin off, perhaps reenacting historical battles. Or potentially be a segue into the Tevinter-Qunari war by staging some of the current battles in northern Thedas. Those personally aren't my type of games so I would hope they won't be too lore heavy so I don't miss much.

I personally am more worried about the ratio of SP to MP in DA4 than if it's rushed. Perhaps due to the time intensive development cycle for large open world maps Bio will scale DA4 down a bit. But I feel like MP is more and more being pushed on Bio games and it requires less writers and voice acting so might be a more efficient use of resources.

I played a little of DAIMP on the PS3 but my PS4 was really bad about connecting to servers so I was never able to try it. I think my internet provider was basically incompatible with PS4. But I remember having a lot more fun with ME3MP than the little of DAIMP I played. And from what I hear MEAMP hasn't been as well received as its predecessor, so I wouldn't be surprised if they go back to the drawing board on both DA and ME future MP.

As I understand it, work has been continuing on the New IP. It's just DA that hasn't gotten much attention.

David Gaider was the lead writer on DAO, DA2 and DAI up until Jaws of Hakkon. After working as a writer at BioWare for almost twenty years, he decided to leave and become the creative director on Beamdog's new D&D game.

(A bunch of people on the internet are convinced this was a bad breakup because BioWare is dying/EA is evil/the Apocalypse is upon us, but David Gaider has said it was all amicable and he just needed a change after working with one company for so long. Believe what you will, we don't know any more.)