BioWare has just announced that both the next Dragon Age, as well as the upcoming, unnamed Mass Effect project, will running on DICE's Frostbite 3 game engine.
BioWare Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn revealed the news on Twitter saying, "For everyone who's been asking after the #BF4 reveal, #DA3 and the next Mass Effect are also using Frostbite 3. It's awesome."
In September 2012, Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah had previously confirmed that the studio was using Frostbite 2 as a "foundation" for the next Dragon Age. It can be assumed that BioWare wanted to begin production on the game as they awaited DICE's Frostbite 3 engine.
The previous and current Frostbite, Frostbite 2, debuted with Battlefield 3 in 2011. Frostbite 3 will make its official debut with the release of Battlefield 4 in late 2013. It will encompass a pretty big step in terms of technical improvements, featuring an overhaul to the destruction simulations and entirely new tessellation technology. It will only be available through DirectX11 on PCs.
Interestingly though, the Frostbite 3 engine does not currently support Nintendo's Wii U, which may indicate that the upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect games may not be planned for release on that console.
The new engine was officially announced during the Battlefield 4 reveal event at this year's GDC. Over 15 minutes of in-game footage was shown, demonstrating the many improvements it has brought to DICE's in-game visuals.
The third Dragon Age, titled Inquisition, is a direct sequel to Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. Like its two predecessors however, it will once again feature a new protagonist.
Both Dragon Age 3 and Battlefield 4 are due for release in late 2014. A release window for the next Mass Effect has yet to even be rumored. All three game series are published by Electronic Arts.
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