Mass Effect Is “More Valuable Than Dragon Age,” Even Without Its Developers, Says BioWare Veteran
Mass Effect and Dragon Age are two of BioWare’s biggest franchises, but one may be worth much more than the other — at least in the mind of one of the studio’s key developers.
According to former BioWare producer Mark Darrah, Mass Effect has more value because its sci-fi universe is harder for other studios to recreate, while Dragon Age shares many similarities with other popular fantasy games.
In an interview with Eldorado.gg, Darrah explained that Mass Effect has a unique world that makes the franchise valuable even without its original developers. Dragon Age, on the other hand, faces more competition from games such as The Lord of the Rings, Baldur’s Gate, and The Witcher.
BioWare Veteran Explains Why Mass Effect Is More Valuable Than Dragon Age
He explained, “I would say Mass Effect as an IP, without the people attached to it, is more valuable than Dragon Age. With Mass Effect, you’re getting the worldbuilding. It’s not that there’s not a ton of worldbuilding in Dragon Age, but the worldbuilding in Dragon Age versus the worldbuilding in any Lord of the Rings game, or a Baldur’s Gate game, or a Witcher game, they are similar enough that it would be tempting to just do it again, just make another one, just make another new fantasy IP.”
Darrah believes that a company interested in buying Dragon Age would first have to consider whether the franchise name would bring enough extra sales to justify the cost. Since fantasy games already share many similar ideas and settings, creating a new game from scratch could be a cheaper option.
“So let’s say Larian decided they were going to buy Dragon Age and make another game,” he added. “The question they have to ask is, if we were to do that, is it going to sell enough more copies than us just making Wyvern Era, a Dragon Age game with the serial number filed off, call it a spiritual successor to Dragon Age. Does it sell enough more to be worth the acquisition?”
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He concluded by saying that while Dragon Age has an established fanbase, buying the franchise would not guarantee that all those fans would support a new game, especially if the original developers were not involved.
In case you missed it, we remind you that BioWare has been shut down by EA, leading to the cancellation of development on the next Mass Effect game. Following this, fans launched the #SaveMassEffect campaign, alongside billboard displays, to protest the closure of BioWare and the cancellation of the next Mass Effect game. However, so far, nothing has come of these efforts.
In related news, it was also reported that EA shut down BioWare and canceled the upcoming Mass Effect game primarily because it chose to prioritize funding Star Wars Battlefront 3.
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