EA refuses to fund Dragon Age remasters.

Fans of Dragon Age awaiting remasters of the franchise may have to wait indefinitely. Former Dragon Age director, Mark Darrah, revealed that EA is one of the reasons why the games have not been remastered. Lack of funding and the technical difficulty of working with different engines are the main obstacles.

In a podcast with MrMattyPlays, Darrah explained that BioWare, like other studios under EA, manages its own finances. The studio did not have the necessary funds to approve a remaster project due to other games already in production. EA's stance, according to Darrah, was: "Sure, go ahead and do it, but do it with the money you already have." However, BioWare could not do this as they were busy with other projects.

Darrah also criticized EA, stating that the company is "against" the idea of remasters in general. "It's strange for a publicly traded company to be basically against easy money, but they seem to be against it," he said, despite EA releasing Mass Effect Legendary Edition in 2021 and a remake of Dead Space in 2023.

In addition to the lack of funding, there is a technical problem. Dragon Age: The Veilguard creative director, John Epler, explained that remastering the three games and bringing them together in a single collection would be a challenging task. Dragon Age: Origins and its expansion Awakening were made with the Eclipse Engine, while Dragon Age 2 used the Lycium Engine and Dragon Age: Inquisition was made with the Frostbite. The Mass Effect Legendary Edition was easier to make as all three games were developed with the Unreal Engine.

John Epler highlighted the difficulty of finding developers at BioWare who still have knowledge of the older engines. "I think I'm one of about 20 people left at BioWare who actually used the Eclipse," said Epler. He concluded his speech by stating that, despite the difficulties, the team still loves the original games and "never say never."

The lack of interest from EA in funding Dragon Age remasters and the technical difficulty of unifying the games into a single collection are the biggest obstacles for fans. Do you think EA should reconsider its strategy to please the community?