We’re only six days into the new year but BioWare is wasting no time in getting everyone up to speed on their plans for 2022. In a rather lengthy and heavily outlined blog post, Studio General Manager Gary McKay has revealed that the studio will be going through a major overhaul on flexible workplace situations. BioWare will now be utilizing and allowing employees to work remotely, as well as having any developers work in any location they see fit. Previously, the company required their employees to relocate to either their Edmonton or Austin location, but that policy is now out the window.
McKay states that 2021 was “another challenging year” which is due to the worldwide effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Despite this, McKay mentions that it had “been an absolute joy to lead a studio with so many unbelievably talented people.” BioWare wasn’t the only company that had to adapt to the ever-evolving conditions of the pandemic, something that a lot of studios all over the world are struggling to deal with. This includes Square Enix, which had to push back the development of Final Fantasy XVI by roughly six months.
As for their titles, McKay briefly addresses their upcoming new entries for both of their flagship franchises, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. For the former, McKay stated that BioWare was absolutely ecstatic about the reception for the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which launched in Spring 2021. “We’re so proud to have released one of the highest-rated games on console, and the reception really underscores the value of striving for excellence and quality in every element of game.” McKay also mentioned that fans should revisit the image that was teased for the next entry on N7 day, as there are apparently more clues that they have yet to discover.
For Dragon Age, McKay reaffirmed that the title will have a major focus on a single-player experience, along with serious decisions in the game that have major consequences on the player. For those who don’t know, the previous entry, Dragon Age: Inquisition, had a multiplayer mode that was not well received. BioWare announced earlier this year that they would not be retaining the mode for the upcoming entry. Lastly, McKay states that he is committed to “rebuilding” the reputation of BioWare. “We are laser-focused on building back the trust of our fans and community, and we plan to do that by delivering the types of games that we are best known for and ensuring they are of the highest quality.”
Either way you extrapolate this, McKay’s blog post is more or less a huge outline for what we can expect in 2022 with BioWare. It’s highly possible that we will see some actual concrete footage of the next Mass Effect and/or Dragon Age titles, and perhaps, even a release date. However, the biggest message that McKay’s post is trying to make is that the studio still cares about video games, mainly the excellent RPG story-driven ones that put them on the map to begin with. 2022 will be an interesting year indeed, and we can’t wait to see what BioWare shows us along the way.