Dragon Age 4 enters 'middle stage' of production, may be ready in 2024

The new Dragon Age game is in middle phases of production, BioWare today confirmed.

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BioWare is currently making significant progress in Dragon Age 4 following years of development and two major reboots. The developer gave a quick update on the new Dragon Age game in a blog post:

"For the next Dragon Age, we are right in the middle of Production, which is a great feeling," BioWare general manager Gary McKay said.

"Our blueprint was completed last year, so we're now focused on building out our vision: creating amazing environments, deep characters, strong gameplay, impactful writing, emotional cinematics - and much more. The blueprint for the game is well understood and the team is focused."

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The last bit is particularly interesting. Dragon Age has shifted from a small game to a massive live game, and is now back to a singleplayer RPG.

Dragon Age 4's early development planning started as far back as 2015. At the time, the Dragon Age game was codenamed Joplin and centered around Tevinter spies. Then in 2016, BioWare's then-executive producer Mark Darrah teased the infamous red book. Then in 2018, Dragon Age 4 shifted to become a live service game, only to be rebooted in 2021 as a singleplayer-driven game.

The new Dragon Age is not expected before March 2023 and may be a 2024 release due to its production timing.

Dragon Age 4 development timeline: All the major milestones so far

• November 2014 - Dragon Age Inquisition releases
• 2015 - Dragon Age enters development in project codenamed "Joplin," would focus on Tevinter spies
• September 2015 - Dragon Age Inquisition's Trespasser DLC releases
• April 2016 - Mark Darrah teases the new Dragon Age with a cryptic red book

• January 2017 - Darrah opens the red book, reveals early concept art
• March 2017 - Mass Effect Andromeda releases, critical flop damages BioWare's reputation
• May 2017 - Sunless Sea writer Alexis Kennedy confirms they're contributing on the new Dragon Age, strongly hints Tevinter is the main setting
• July 2017 - BioWare GM Aaryn Flynn leaves after 17 years with company
• October 2017 - BioWare reboots the game to focus strongly on monetization and live services, aka codenamed "Morrison," causing creative director Mike Laidlaw leaves after 14 years with BioWare
• September 2018 - BioWare talks about "live storytelling" during a PAX West panel, hints Dragon Age 4 would use online live services for game stories

• December 2018 - BioWare releases first Dragon Age 4 teaser, the Dread Wolf Rises

• February 2019 - Anthem releases, devs move over to Dragon Age as skeleton team upholds live services/works on Anthem reboot
• April 2019 - Kotaku feature confirms Dragon Age 4 would have deep live service structure
• April 2019 - BioWare's huge morale problems outed, reports of significant crunch revealed
• September 2019 - GM Casey Hudson confirms DA4 is only in pre-production phases
• October 2019 - EA says Dragon Age 4 won't release until after Fiscal Year 2022 (April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022)
• August 2020 - BioWare shows off Dragon Age 4 prototype gameplay

• December 2020 - Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah and general manager Casey Hudson both leave BioWare
• December 2020 - New Dragon Age 4 teaser footage shows off next-gen Frostbite engine technology
• February 2021 - BioWare shifts Dragon Age 4 from a multiplayer game into a fully-singleplayer RPG.
• February 2022 - BioWare confirms Dragon Age 4 is in "middle stage of production