Former BioWare developer explains why EA doesn’t want a Dragon Age remake or remaster review

Mark Darrah reveals that the company avoids these projects, even if they could generate profits.

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During a recent interview, Mark Darrah, former executive producer of Dragon Age, explained that Electronic Arts has no intention of funding a remake of Dragon Age: Origins or a remastered collection of the trilogy, despite many players having requested it for years.

The creative states that this stance is not new and that the company itself has acknowledged it in the past. According to Darrah, “historically, EA has been – and I’m not entirely sure why, but they’ve said it publicly – against remasters. It’s strange that a publicly traded company is basically against easy money, but that seems to be the case”.

Dragon Age would be more complex to update than Mass Effect

In addition to this internal policy, Darrah claims that a remaster or remake of Dragon Age would be more complicated to produce than one of Mass Effect. “It’s more difficult than ME, to a certain extent immeasurably. Maybe just a little more difficult, maybe a lot more”, he commented, hinting that the scale, level design, and combat system of the saga could require a much greater technical effort.

Released in November 2009, Dragon Age: Origins marked the debut of one of BioWare’s most beloved role-playing sagas. The game arrived on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, and was acclaimed for its deep tactical combat system, its extensive dark fantasy world, and its emphasis on player decisions, which altered the course of the story.

At the time, it was considered the spiritual successor to classics like Baldur’s Gate, with a mature narrative, multiple playable origins for the main character, and a rich world full of factions, conflicts, and background. Its commercial and critical success laid the foundation for a saga that, to date, has sold millions of copies and has a loyal community that still dreams of seeing a remastered version that modernizes its technical aspect without losing its essence.

For now, EA has not made official statements about the future of Dragon Age after Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Everything indicates that, at least in the short term, players will have to continue enjoying the original titles as they were released.