EA turned down BioWare’s pitch to work on a remake of Dragon Age Origins or a remastered Dragon Age Trilogy, according to a new report.
During an interview on the MrMattyPlays YouTube channel, Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has revealed that the studio once floated the idea of remastering the Dragon Age trilogy, similar to what was done with Mass Effect Legendary Edition, but EA showed little interest in pursuing it.
Darrah explained that BioWare discussed several approaches, from a simple remaster of Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, and Inquisition, to a full remake of Origins. One concept even involved partnering with an experienced external modding team to modernize the first game using the Frostbite engine. Darrah believed a remastered trilogy could serve as a way to rekindle enthusiasm for the franchise ahead of future releases.
However, according to Darrah, EA has “historically been kind of against remasters,” despite the financial upside such projects can offer. He described it as “strange for a publicly traded company to basically seem to be against free money.” While EA never outright banned BioWare from doing it, the publisher reportedly insisted any remaster would need to be funded from the studio’s existing budget, an unrealistic stipulation given the studio’s other ongoing projects.
Darrah also noted that Dragon Age would be far more complex to remaster than Mass Effect. The trilogy runs on two different engines, and much of its older tech is “really crotchety,” making it difficult for an outside team to handle. Unlike Mass Effect, which could be largely outsourced, Dragon Age would require significant internal staffing, something EA was reluctant to do due to the long-term cost of hiring new developers.
Ultimately, the idea never moved beyond what Darrah calls a “soft pitch,” and Dragon Age fans never got their equivalent of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition.
