The New Dragon Age is Too Distracting for BioWare to Consider Making Jade Empire 2

We know there's a new Dragon Age project in the works over at BioWare. Alexis Kennedy, writer of Sunless Sea, confirmed as much last year. It seems however that since then, the production pipeline for Dragon Age is gearing up as creative director Mark Laidlaw went on a podcast recently to discuss what the new Dragon Age means for BioWare, in terms of both increased hiring, as well as how the project affects other potential titles. Like say, Jade Empire 2?

In an interview on host Josiah Renaudin's The 1099 podcast, Laidlaw was pretty candid about BioWare's Dragon Age plans. "Something is happening with Dragon Age," said Laidlaw. Apparently Laidlaw and the team are "hiring a lot of people" as part of the project.

Interestingly enough, the discussion ventured into questions about Jade Empire, another BioWare RPG with heavy East Asian influences. Laidlaw even said that he'd "be a fool to say [BioWare wasn't] considering [Jade Empire 2]."

Laidlaw cites market research as a factor for Jade Empire 2's status, but also goes heavily into the research involved with the game. Laidlaw specifically mentions how he needs the right people to focus on the creative aspects of the game, but as of now, that creative capital is focused on Dragon Age.

"If someone said to me 'What would you do with Jade 2', I have an answer. I have a very clear answer in my head....Let's put it this way: Dragon Age is fairly distracting."

There aren't a lot of details yet regarding the new Dragon Age project. Alexis Kennedy practically announced the project to Eurogamer but didn't go into any specifics other than he's been brought on to write a storyline which he says if "familiar stuff" for fans of his work.

The new Dragon Age wasn't announced at this year's E3, with BioWare instead focusing on its new sci-fi IP, Anthem. Although it sounds like the project might just not be ready to show off yet.