As you may or may not know, two of BioWare’s founders, Doctors Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, retired last month, prompting lots of worrying from BioWare’s legions of fans of the direction the studio might take without its fearless founders defending it from the suits at EA. Aaryn Flynn, general manager of both the Montreal and Edmonton branches of the studio, took to the BioWare blog to assuage these fears and to let the fans know what’s coming.
Now, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the studio’s major titles, and both are coming to an end soon (Dragon Age 3 is currently in the works, and the letter reveals that there is also another full Mass Effect title coming, but both are expected to be the final chapters in these universes). Given how well-loved and established these titles are, of course it’s bound to make people nervous. But as Flynn reveals, BioWare is working on creating another all-original game universe to play in:
Both Dragon Age and Mass Effect started as single games but grew into vast universes. But we aren’t stopping there. While Casey continues to oversee the development of our new Mass Effect project, he and his leads are putting together their vision for an all new game set in a fictional universe, built from the bottom-up with all new gaming technology.
However, in typical BioWare fashion, they’re keeping the details about this new universe pretty mum. What type of game do you think they’re going to make next? Another fantasy or sci-fi title? Or do you think they’ll go with something a little different, or maybe more contemporary? My money’s on either a steampunk-type universe (based on the recent success of Bethesda’s Dishonored), or maybe a post-apocalyptic title. As long as the dialogue and characters remain as funny and layered as they have been, I’ll definitely keep playing.
