Just because Anthem is the big new project at BioWare doesn't mean the studio has put Mass Effect and Dragon Age in mothballs. To use another smelly sounding metaphor, they're in skunkworks. BioWare general manager Casey Hudson addressed the studio's community of fans in a mid-summer update, and though much of the message was about Anthem's pre-release presentations and progress, he did briefly touch on two of BioWare's other original universes.
"And yes - we hear loud and clear the interest in BioWare doing more Dragon Age and Mass Effect, so rest assured that we have some teams hidden away working on some secret stuff that I think you’ll really like - we’re just not ready to talk about any of it for a little while," Hudson said.
We've known for some time that Dragon Age 4 (it probably won't actually be named that) is in the works at some level, though Hudson commented earlier this summer that the team's "still trying to figure out" what it will be like. So that isn't a surprise. But it's good news for Mass Effect fans who feared the worst after that whole Mass Effect: Andromeda thing.
After launching with some glaring problems, BioWare did right by Andromeda players who stuck around with ample fixes and improvements for the base game. But the usual round of DLC expansions never materialized and sequel talk has been totally non-existent, even though Mass Effect: Andromeda was framed as a new beginning for the series. Even BioWare Montreal, Andromeda's primary developer, shut down with most of its employees transferring to other EA studios. The series' future has been uncertain since then, so it's encouraging to hear that BioWare still has some employees beavering away on something Mass Effect related.
Now the main question is how long that "little while" will be before we hear more about those secret Dragon Age and Mass Effect projects. I don't think BioWare would want to risk stealing any of Anthem's thunder ahead of its February 22, 2019 release date, so maybe start keeping your ear to the ground after that.
If you want to see more of what BioWare's up to right now, check out this 20 minute gameplay video of Anthem in giant-spider-fighting action.
