EA is doing quite well, as evidenced by their earnings report yesterday, showcasing sky-high digital revenue, big numbers for Battlefield and FIFA being the most popular game in the world. There’s a lot of information to parse from everything that was revealed, but one aspect caught my attention: a brief plug for a new, unnamed BioWare IP.
It’s a little unclear if EA CEO Andrew Wilson was even supposed to mention it, as it inspired a very short follow-up note from BioWare’s Aaryn Flynn after the fact, which simply offers this as background:
“In 2012, we began crafting a new universe full of new characters, stories, and gameplay. Our ambition is simple: Draw upon 20+ years of development knowledge and lessons to create something fun and new for you to enjoy with your friends.”
Combine this with information from well-known leaker Shinobi602, who says the title is “genre melding; action adventure + traditional character/story progression of a BioWare game,” and you have something very curious indeed.
My theory, one shared by others, is that this might be EA realizing that they need to get some skin in the game when it comes to the sprawling RPG loot-shooter genre, one currently dominated by Destiny and The Division, building off the legacy of Diablo and Borderlands.
Activision has Destiny, which is one of the most influential new IPs of the decade, and has amassed a massive fan base. Interest is waning in Year Three, but a full sequel is on the way and it will undoubtedly be one of the biggest games of whatever year it’s released in.
Ubisoft has The Division, and even if the player base is currently reaching maximum salt levels about an upcoming patch and PvP content, the fact remains that the game has been an enormous success so far. It was one of the best-selling games of the year, and was the fastest-selling new IP in history. It even has a movie adaptation almost fully assembled already with an Oscar-nominated director and cast. It’s clear The Division is going to be part of Ubisoft’s stable for a very long time.
EA does not have a dog in this fight. They have shooters, and they have RPGs, but they do not have anything in this genre specifically, games that focus heavily on loot, co-op and PvP play, all in one giant shared world.
EA relies on DICE when it comes to crafting pure shooters, hence their work on Battlefront and Battlefield. But BioWare seems like exactly the right studio to develop something like this, given their history with RPGs and MMOs that could be combined into exactly this so-hot-right-now genre (though admittedly, many key members of BioWare have departed at this point, including its founders).
There are obviously many questions about how this would work. Bungie and Massive work full-time on their respective games, and they still can barely keep up with the demands of players who want constant content and balance patches. To do something of this scope, it would seem like BioWare would have to forfeit other projects. We might have seen the last of Dragon Age, for instance, or maybe even Mass Effect will end after Andromeda. There have already been clues to that effect, with BioWare saying that the game is not the start of a new trilogy.
I’ll admit, when I start thinking about BioWare making a new IP in the Destiny/Division genre, I initially wonder why they wouldn’t set it in the Mass Effect universe, a place that has been so beautifully built up with history and lore that it would be perfect for something like this.
But then again, you could ask the same of these other games. Destiny was not set in the Halo universe, even though you can imagine it fitting there. The Division was not based on Splinter Cell or Rainbow Six (albeit it’s a Tom Clancy property all the same). BioWare released the original Mass Effect a decade ago, and was working on it for years before that. After Andromeda, it may just be time to move on.
It’s hard to say too much more at this point without knowing any more details, but if BioWare has been building this since 2012, it has to be big, and it’s pretty clear that this popular genre is one area where EA is lacking. But whatever is coming out almost certainly be here until at least 2018, when it might be competing against revitalized enemies in the form of Destiny 2 and The Division 2. Regardless, it’s an exciting prospect, and while I’m looking forward to any new BioWare IP, I’m definitely hoping that it does end up being in this genre.
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