Dragon Age 2 may have acquired a poor reputation, but that’s not why BioWare cancelled the Exalted March expansion

By Brenna Hillier

Dragon Age 2 DLC came to an abrupt halt. Is that because it was a stinker?

Dragon Age 2 has a reputation for being the low point of the series, fairly or unfairly. When DLC support came to an abrupt end before the release of the cancelled Exalted March expansion amid backlash and criticism of the sequel, it was easy to point to underperformance as the cause.

But there’s never been any indication Dragon Age 2 and its DLC didn’t shift some units, and it actually sold faster than Dragon Age: Origins at launch. Certainly EA coughed up the cash for the team to double down for Dragon Age: Inquisition – and that leads us to today’s story.

In a series of tweets, Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw said BioWare dropped Dragon Age 2 like a hot potato not because it was rubbish but because the team needed time to get to grips with Frostbite ahead of Inquisition; you may recall this was about the time EA decided all its studios should use DICE’s engine as we prepared for the next generation.

Okay, folks have some questions about the Exalted March cancelled expansion for DAII. So…

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

First off? Why did we cancel it? Easy to assume it was “the reaction” to DAII, but not so! It was the move to Frostbite.

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

We had an opportunity to do so at the same time, but knew as it would be the first time that engine did “RPG stuff” we knew it would be hard

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

As most everything in making games, it certainly was challenging. Great engine, but took tons of time. Had we tried to do both EM ….

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

… and the Frostbite transition, both would have suffered a lot, esp. from lack of engineering folks.

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

So @BioMarkDarrah made the call to stop development on EM and go all in on what would become DAI.

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

It’s worth noting that Skyrim released in November 2011, six months after Dragon Age 2, and changed the RPG landscape forever. The enormous success of Bethesda’s adventure showed the industry that with enough effort RPGs could sell as well as more traditional blockbuster fare like shooters. Suddenly, it was worth going really big on RPGs – and to go big, you need time and a fresh start.

Laidlaw also shared a few details on what Dragon Age 2: Exalted March would have covered if it had ever got past the early planning stages.

So anyway! Exalted March didn’t make it too far past concept. The idea, however, was that it followed the red lyrium chicanery of DAII with

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

The Chantry becoming VERY UPSET while various aspects of the qunari started to make moves on the turbulent Free Marches.

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

And this it fell to Hawke to stop things from going to hell (again) while working with Starkhaven and the pirates of the Armada.

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

Beyond that, there were some really interesting stories to tell, and a chance to learn more about Sebastian’s family.

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

But as it stood, I think shutting it down was the right call to focus on the engine change.

— Mike Laidlaw (@Mike_Laidlaw) January 12, 2017

Although you’ll hear plenty of criticism of Dragon Age 2 – the recycled environments, more action-friendly combat, set protagonist and character-specific story are often highlighted for derision – there’s a lot to love about the middle child of the franchise, too.

Critics generally rated Dragon Age 2 higher than user ratings on sites like Metacritic, for whatever that’s worth, and hardcore BioWare fans might have enjoyed more adventures with Hawke’s merry band of pals. Ah well: even staff have said Dragon Age 2 came out in a bit of a rush.

As an aside, in some later Tweets, Laidlaw said he can’t remember whether it was Dragon Age 2: Exalted March or Dragon Age Inquisition which BioWare codenamed “Project Nugstorm”, resulting in concerned calls from EA regarding just exactly what the studio was up to. Ha!