Dragon Age: Inquisition has proven to be quite the success for BioWare both commercially and critically, so one might fear the studio is feeling pressured to use that same framework for the next entry in the Mass Effect series.
Fortunately, that won't be the case, as BioWare general manager Aaryn Flynn took to NeoGAF to assuage gamers' fears, explaining that the development of Mass Effect 4 won't be heavily informed by what they've done with Dragon Age.
All of our games are using Frostbite now. We've said the next Mass Effect (and our new IP, but I won't expand on that yet) uses some of the technology from DAI. We've been enjoying building larger areas that you can explore with less friction, so that'll be there as well.
But after that, the next Mass Effect will be (and should be) drawing on its own rich and successful past more than what DAI would say it should do. Take the Mako, something we've already shown in prototype form. We had that in ME1, and bringing it back is more related to a feeling that we can do it much better than we did before and fulfill the original promise of that gameplay. That has nothing to do with DAI. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that dropping the older consoles has had more impact on the overall gameplay goals of the next Mass Effect game than what DAI successfully accomplished.
We're very proud of what DAI has achieved, but that does not set a 'template' for what every other game we make needs to be. Each game franchise needs to innovate and improve their experience based on what's best for it, not just what another game had success with because 'well that was successful'.
I don't know about you, but I absolutely can't wait until we hear more about what's next for the Mass Effect franchise. In which direction would you like to see BioWare take the next entry? Should it be a prequel? A direct follow-up to the events of Mass Effect 3? Something else entirely?
