According to sources close to BioWare Austin, the studio is ready to send its action RPG Shadow Realms back to the drawing board — a move that would see the once-2015 title pushed back to 2017.
First picked up by Kotaku, the report states that both BioWare and publisher EA made the decision following a re-evaluation, one which will purportedly implement a fully-fledged campaign as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.
Originally revealed back at Gamescom, Shadow Realms was billed as 4 vs. 1 RPG that would be released episodically later in 2015. At that time, it was understood that the mystical title would be free-to-play, though it remains unclear if the studio will stick with that business model following this recent reassessment. What the report does suggest, however, is that BioWare is now gearing up for a full release as opposed to the episodic structure.
Speculation first began to spread when the studio delayed the closed alpha back in October of last year. Couple that with the fact that a vertical slice of Shadow Realms was shown to press during the event at Cologne and many had assumed that EA had axed the game in its entirety. Thankfully, that is simply not the case, with community manager Eric Musco claiming that the game was “absolutely not cancelled,” a move that will likely force Austin to align the Realms more with EA’s Origin client.
Shadow Realms will now release across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC at some point in 2017. Tell us, are you apprehensive of this new approach from BioWare? Are you still holding out hope that the ambitious 4 vs. 1 title can become a success? Let us know in the comments.