BioWare has had a rough week, as today a report has surfaced online that suggests Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will face another delay internally after the company has laid off “approximately” 50 employees.
The reported delay comes from Giant Bomb‘s Jeff Grubb, who has made numerous reports on the state of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in the past. The Game Mess Mornings episode aired yesterday, where Grubb spilled the beans on the delay, citing ‘unnamed sources’ he had discussed with ‘behind the scenes’ at EA. The new ‘forecasted’ release window based on Grubb’s findings is “Summer 2024 the earliest” after being pushed from March 2024. Grubb’s outlook sours more on the release, saying it could be pushed back even further to 2025.
Grubb had previously reported back in February 2022 that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf development was on schedule, but since then, the team working on Dragon Age 4 has recruited Mass Effect development team members to push progress along, and lay-offs happened earlier this week numbering, “approximately” 50, announced by Studio General Manager Gary McKay. Since its announcement, the only official release regarding Dragon Age: Dreadwolf was a teaser presented at the Game Awards in 2020, which can be seen below.
McKay stated, “In order to meet the needs of our upcoming projects, continue to hold ourselves to the highest standard of quality and ensure BioWare can continue to thrive in an industry that’s rapidly evolving, we must shift towards a more agile and more focused studio,” regarding the lay-offs at the studio. McKay assured fans, however, “We are confident that we’ll have the time needed to ensure Dreadwolf reaches its full potential.”
Seeing as how veteran Writer Mac Walters departed the studio in January after almost 20 years with the studio, other high-profile departures, a lay-off numbering 50, and a flatline of information regarding the release, it may be time to start worrying.
