Pachter: Dragon Age III Pushed Back Due To The Old Republic

[The Wooster]

Pachter: Dragon Age III Pushed Back Due To The Old Republic

Analyst, Michael Pachter, thinks Dragon Age III's delay is due to team members being assigned to The Old Republic.

In an earnings report released earlier in the week, EA announced the delay of a "key game" that was scheduled for release sometime after March 31, 2013. Michael Pachter, market soothsayer and analyst, thinks Dragon Age III is a likely candidate.

"When we spoke with the [EA] CEO, he added the color that the game was expected to slip because the team had been pulled away to work on another important project," said Pachter. "While we don't know what the game is, the only game that makes sense is Dragon Age 3, as it is developed by BioWare, the same studio that produced the Star Wars MMO."

He went on to theorize that the delay is due to Dragon Age III staff are being whisked away to work on The Old Republic.

"It seems obvious to us that the BioWare team responsible for Dragon Age 3 was asked to place development of that game on hold and work on Star Wars, to ensure that the latter game launched before the holidays."

"We believe that a significant portion of the BioWare team responsible for the game was reassigned to Star Wars in order to create content and fix bugs to keep the game's audience engaged," he elaborated.

EA and Bioware have both responded that they don't comment on rumor and speculation.

It's not like The Old Republic doesn't need the help, the game is still being heavily criticized for a perceived lack of endgame content, and the MMO managed to shed nearly 400,000 users between February and May [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117133-The-Old-Republic-Population-Shrinking] - though EA puts those numbers down to casual players jumping ship. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117159-EA-Blames-Filthy-Casuals-For-Falling-Old-Republic-Subscriber-Numbers] The MMO is currently one of EA's top earners, but hasn't managed to break into the top five.

Pachter went on to predict good things for EA in the coming year. Despite the relatively low number of boxed releases (for EA), the company is still expected to grow, mostly thanks to strong digital sales. EA brought in $1.2 billion in digital revenue during the last year, marking a 47% increase over the previous year. Yay.

Source: GameIndustryBiz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-05-08-star-wars-mmo-pulling-talent-away-from-dragon-age-team]


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[MercurySteam]

I dunno, right now I'm more keen to see development in the area of DA3 than TOR. Maybe this time 'round they'll learn not to cut back on development time.

 

[shintakie10]

Eh, not surprised if this turns out to be true. DA makes them money, but it doesn't make them nearly as much as Bioware's other properties.

 

[endtherapture]

I waited 5+ years for DA:O. It was a masterpiece.

I waited 2 years for DA2. It was shit.

Push the game back all you want Bioware.

 

[Dandark]

Hopefully that is the case, Dragon age Origins was great.
They rushed Dragon age 2 for a quick cash in, it was shit.
I hope that it get's delayed for a loooong while, prefrably untill they get over the retarded idea to put multiplayer in everything, although I doubt that will happen.

 

[satsugaikaze]

Uh, Command and Conquer: Generals 2, anyone?

Another 2013 Bioware title. Probably a much more likely candidate given it's not a Bioware mainstay series.

 

[Lt. Rocky]

I'd love to have confidence in Bioware, but EA isn't exactly guiding them to the promised land, if you know what I mean. It's reasons like this why I'd prefer they just let Bioware stick to doing their own thing and making new and interesting IPs, instead of multitasking with old, tired ones like Star wars and Command & Conquer.

 

[HellenicWarrior]

I don't know if I can go back to the Dragon Age series after playing II I was just so depressed visiting the same crappy copy and paste locations with obviously spawning generic enemies... Eughhh

 

[Irridium]

Good.

Dragon Age 2 felt really, really rushed compared to Origins, no doubt due to the very short development time. A longer development time is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Not quite sure I agree with many of the responses so far. I don't believe that DA2 was really bad at all for one, but I also don't see how a total delay is going to suddenly mean great things for DA3. DA2 was rushed through it's actual production. If the conjecture in the article is true, DA3 is basically just being delayed during what amounts to pre-production. I hope it's not the case, but it may still be rushed through actual production. In fact, if EA didn't learn it's lesson from the DA2 backlash, I could see this being the more likely case. They have a major property that's being delayed for work on another game, said other game does well but doesn't set the world on fire, production gets rushed on the major property in attempt to make up for both the delay and the perceived shortcomings in the other title.

 

[yellost]

Ok, I really have to ask... I read this article up and down and sideways and I have absolutely no clue about this :
What the hell is that goat from Kung Fu Panda doing here ?
Is there some secret arcane way those two subjects are even remotely related ? I'm just baffled...

 

[Richardplex]

I hope it isn't DA3, being planned for March 2013? I liked DA2, but the fact that it was rushed as hell really pulled it from something I might of loved to something I liked. The pushback wouldn't add any development time, since whatever is being pushed back had its development on hold.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

No, DA2 pushed back DA3
Either that or their busy rewriting the ending to make it "safer" and editing out the dragon child.

Dragon Child?

I really loved DA:O and I suppose DA 2 was okay but I didn't feel it was worth a second playthrough, so I sold it.

I miss the days of old when they made Jade Empire and KOTOR 1

 

[paketep]

Pachter "news" again?. Great. Just great.

 

[cynicthnkr]

WOW thats some speculation. No one seem to be sure of nothing.

 

[DRTJR]

DA 2 felt rushed, but I still loved that game. I demand more Dragon age, it's infanitly better than Mass Effect.

 

[BlackStar42]

Good, maybe they'll get time to finish this one. I liked DA2, but I rage when I think of what it could've been.

 

[ScatterBen]

Hopefully while most of their resources were being put into TOR, it means that that the writers have the time to actually come up with a compelling story. Maybe you could revisit some of the locations from the first game a century later or something (so that the choices you made will have had time to sink in). I never finished DA2 (I got bored midway through the second act) but the first one had this great atmosphere to it, even if the plot was a little simple. It'd be great to see them go back to that and maybe add a little ambiguity in there (though we know that isn't Bioware's strength). One can only hope at this stage...