It is said that curiosity let the cat out of the bag. OK. Perhaps it’s not said like that, but I really wanted an excuse to confuse the ancient saying for this particular situation because it applies. In a recent Mass Effect message board post, a curious BioWare fan asked the studios’ writers what they are doing right now. A writer, named Patrick Weekes responded, mentioning that some writers are doing bug fixes or play-testing Mass Effect 2, while others are “working on planet descriptions or codex entries” and downloadable content. He also said that some writers have moved on, specifically to Dragon Age 2 or “the MMO" (presumably Star Wars: The Old Republic).
Wait. What? Dragon Age 2?
We’re not sure if this is a toasted toads confirmation of an unnannounced sequel to the unreleased Dragon Age: Origins. “Dragon Age 2” could be a flashy name for a secret project completely unrelated to Origins that features another dark fantasy setting and, uh, dragons. Also, wizards of the First Order.
But, it probably isn’t.
Dragon Age 2 sounds great judging by what we've seen of the game thus far. We’ve contacted BioWare to get official-official confirmation of the sequel. The studio did not respond immediately, but we'll let you know when we know. That's the toasted toads truth.
[Update: As many of you pointed out in the comments, Dragon Age: Origins could be a part of a series. BioWare hasn't been shy about that, but, you know, the sequel wasn't confirmed -- or at least we didn't know it was being worked on -- until now. BioWare did get back to us re:Weekes' words and the search for official confirmation of Dragon Age 2. A representative told Destructoid, “We’ve always considered Dragon Age: Origins to be part of a franchise. However, we don’t comment on unannounced projects.”]
[via The Save Points]
Contest:
3:34 PM on 09.07.2009
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And as for the abundance of trilogies, it's a relatively safe bet sales-wise, it's easier to produce sequels than entire new games and it means you can 'test' game types to see if they work in the market and then polish and tweak the mechanics more in the sequels rather than have everything perfect in a single game.
"It's understandable that with most things being locked down and finalized for release Real Soon Now, there isn't a lot for the writers to do, so some of them have been working on planning for the next chapter or helping out on other projects. Some of the artists too for that matter, doing things like prototyping scenery looks for new environments.
That way if DA:O sells well and we get the green light for the sequel, we can hit the ground running for production instead of spending a year having to plan things.
And it WILL sell well, right guys?"
Why has no one else tried this!?
Of course, Dragon Age could flop, get panned by critics and not sell at all. But that isn't going to happen so I'm sure they've already moving on the second game. After all, it's pretty clear that Mass Effect 2 was being worked on before the first game was done.