Outdated: "Dragon Age 4 could release sooner than you think, based on GeForce Now leak" - Outdated a

Idon't think the meetings or the telecommunication is the issue I think the industry just is not tailored for this. Yes people could do all this software and development right from the comfort of their own homes but that also assumes that the infrastructure was there to do that in the first place. And gaming companies operate out of offices like seemingly *any* software development firm or other businesses. While I am comfortable working from home on my own stuff most people don't seem to be, they like working from *over there* and living *over here*. So they had to first get a lot of equipment and resources set up in their individual home spaces before they could even continue development in this case. Things like software, maybe getting specific computers out to people that could run software, setting up recording studios in the home, e-mailing and communicating with people which is probably harder to do then in person, maybe even mo cap facilities. Plus some people just aren't comfortable with zoom meetings or computer meetings (to say nothing of any technical delays) and they really need a face to face connection.

Sure this doesen't 'excuse' everything that happened before Covid but then that has been well documented and its not like BioWare has not been releasing content this entire time, just not DA content.

We haven't even seen gameplay or an actual title... and it expects to release a few days potentially after EA Play? Maybe it's just a placeholder.

The timescale of promotion starting in 2022 followed by release in 2023 was actually given in the shareholders report by EA I seem to recall, although they were talking in terms of fiscal years, which means fiscal 2022 would be the period up to April 2022 and then fiscal 2023 any time from then until April 2023. So if they kept to that projected timescale, then it is likely there will be some sort of major marketing release before too long in 2022, followed by the actual game release in spring 2023. Since I believe that original projection was pre-Covid, there is a likelihood that the timescale may have slipped somewhat and thus a mid to late 2023 (actual year) does seem a reasonable guess.

That pre-Covid investors conference call placed the launch date sometime after April 2022. But as BW likes to release their games in either the first or last quarter of the calendar year, that would have meant Fall 2022.

But...

... with Covid and the various internal shake-ups, who knows when it'll actually launch. Sometime in 2023 is the going rumor right now, but whether that'll be in the first quarter or last quarter (or pushed into 2024)...?

 Pretty unlikely given the success if DAI, EA would want Bioware to get up on the right foot after two controversial releases. So I would say they would have Bioware take their time with their "untainted" franchise.

Any publisher will eventually reach that point, the question is how close is BioWare to that point.  Personally any game has the danger of reaching that point, but I think BioWare is in safe waters right now.  The major delays seem to be in response to the gaming marketplace and might have been caught at a point where not a lot of money was lost and not just the developer failing to deliver like Visceral.

I too think the issue for me right now is if the game gets pushed back till 2024 is not waitingon the game as much, that's not the concern, just a little anxious to start hearing news and marketing on the game to and start hearing about it. For if it comes out in 2024...we might not hear news till 2024 and that will be excruciating.

Though the other hand they have intimated that we'll hear *something* about them for DA 4 this year so unless Hanako was right and the press release was it then that should help allay these fears and we will hear news this year and it will be out next year *crosses fingers and toes*.

That was far more preferable than how they handled MEA's and Anthem's marketing. 

I am definitely not in the "Bioware lied" camp, but - as much as I loved Inquisition (and I did - 5 completed PTs, 700+ hours) - it was still a "disappointment" based on my expectations.  Expectations that were formed by the marketing.  Were my expectations reasonable?  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  But that's actually kind of irrelevant after the fact.  

I enjoyed the DAI build-up and dissection of every little thing, but in hindsight, it was exhausting.  I could've unplugged and walked away from the speculation at any time, so that was on me, but I would far rather know nothing about the game (save maybe the odd screenshot and the names of companions - that type of thing) until 3-6 months out from release.  i.e.  The game is feature complete and they're bug stomping prior to release.

Anything much more than that and we (or at least, I) risk disappointment.  Again.