Dragon Age 4 is targeting a "potential 2023 release," according to a new report.
BioWare's upcoming fantasy epic was originally announced in 2018, but according to GamesBeat, sources familiar with the project "confirm the game is on track for release in 2023." According to a tweet from reporter Jeff Grubb, that means that "we'll probably start hearing about it a lot more in 2022."
EA had already made clear that Dragon Age 4 wouldn't appear at EA Play Live, stating that BioWare was hard at work on both that game, the next Mass Effect, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. GamesBeat reports that the decision to leave the game out of EA's recent showcase is an attempt to "enable the publisher to get the game into position to begin marketing it in earnest" next year.
EA reportedly told GamesBeat that it has "no plans" to share a release window for the game yet, and it's important to note that in the absence of official word from either the publisher or BioWare itself, any rumored release date should be taken with a significant pinch of salt, as development schedules are subject to constant change. That said, a 2023 release date would come five years after Dragon Age 4's original announcement. That's a long time, but not too far outside the kind of development cycle one might expect for an ambitious RPG project like this.
While GamesBeat suggests we won't be learning much about Dragon Age 4 until next year at the earliest, a few details have been revealed in recent months. Back in January, the Dragon Age 4 setting appeared to be leaked by a recent book about the history of BioWare. Since then, it's been said BioWare is ditching the project's live-service elements after Anthem's underperformance. We've also seen the first alpha file show up on the PlayStation Store, and hints at a returning faction, but it now sounds as though details might be scarce for the foreseeable future.
The next Dragon Age might be some way out, but EA did confirm its long-awaited Dead Space remake during last week's showcase.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.