Despite fan demand and the success of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, BioWare’s classic fantasy RPG won’t be getting the remaster treatment—at least not for now.
If Dragon Age: Origins fans want a shiny, new remake, they might want to put their coins away because EA isn’t interested in making Dragon Age: Origins. Mark Darrah, a former senior producer at BioWare, recently went on a podcast and said that EA has no plans to make the first three Dragon Age games into Mass Effect Legendary treatment, meaning EA doesn’t want to work on the Dragon Age games like they did with Mass Effect.
Darrah, who had worked at BioWare for almost 24 years, said that technology was the main problem. Dragon Age was made with more than one engine, which makes an external remaster much harder and more expensive than the Unreal Engine remake.
The process of remastering Mass Effect Legendary Edition was made easier by the fact that almost every outside company and contractor in the business knows how to use Unreal Engine. That benefit isn’t there in Dragon Age at all.
Still, a lot of people are shocked by the choice, since Dragon Age has been so popular for so long. The game’s deep story, strategic combat, and loyal fan group make it seem like it would be perfect for a high-quality remaster or even a remake. With EA’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard, some people think that going back to Origins could be the “easy win” the series needs to prove it’s still important.
Like Bethesda’s Skyrim Special Edition, a well-polished re-release of Dragon Age: Origins with updated graphics, better controls, and a few other quality-of-life improvements could easily sell millions of copies. Fans would be happy to promote it on social media.
But for now, it looks like EA is happy to leave Origins in the past. But anyone who has played Dragon Age knows that breaking the glass and hitting the big red button can lead to the strangest quests. Let’s hope someone picks this up so that everyone can enjoy Dragon Age in this generation.
