Dragon Age creator and BioWare veteran Mark Darrah has discussed some of the reasons why big-budget games seemingly take so long to make – and why some projects are announced so long before they’re ready to release.
Darrah, a veteran of BioWare back to the original Baldur’s Gate, previously headed the Dragon Age franchise and returned to work on the upcoming entry Dragon Age: The Veilguard as a consultant.
Speaking via his YouTube channel, Darrah provides some interesting insight on the topic of big-budget game development. And, while he avoids namechecking any of BioWare’s games directly, it’s not difficult to read between the lines at certain points as to how this wisdom relates to the company he’s spent most of his career at.
To begin with, Darrah counters the question of why AAA game development takes so long by simply saying that it doesn’t – or at least, it doesn’t take as long as you might initially believe. In practice, various games get announced well in advance of full development taking place, with only small teams working on pre-production or ideation for several years.