BioWare’s Anthem Strategy Could Impact Mass Effect and Dragon Age

BioWare is doing a lot of things differently with Anthem, and that makes sense, as it’s a different kind of game. At the same time, BioWare is also working on the next Dragon Age to some extent, and Mass Effect will only stay dormant for so long. These games are all related by DNA, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that in talking about what’s in store for Anthem, BioWare naturally is considering how to apply similar content strategies to its other projects. Case in point, an interview at PAX West suggests that the structures in place for Anthem, particularly for long-term support, will likely also influence what happens with BioWare’s other flagship IP.

The interview, which was conducted by VG 24/7, revolves around BioWare’s plan to support Anthem after launch. The plan is to continue adding to the game, over the months and possibly even years following its release. To that end, BioWare plans to release smaller chunks of new story content, ostensibly all of it for free.

As Lead Producer Michael Gamble suggests, Anthem is built to handle that sort of modular post-release content. From new story content to even new stuff like Agents, Anthem will be able to support additional content within its base structure.

Here’s the big quote from Gamble:

So after Anthem we can say, okay, now we’re going to expand the storyline for one of those Agents, or now that certain points in the game world have happened, this changes the relationship, this changes this character, this changes the type of missions for certain characters. Or even we add new characters, we add new Agents. We can do all that and Anthem gives us the tools to do all that.

My point is that I hope that future games, whether it’s Dragon Age or the other one that starts with ‘Mass’, continues to utilize this kind of storytelling.

He’s not confirming Dragon Age or the next Mass Effect will have similar structure to Anthem in a literal sense, but that the idea is for BioWare to continues building its games to support bursts of content being added over time, perhaps instead of a few massive DLC launches, several smaller pieces of content that focus on a single character or idea.

[Source: VG 24/7]