Former BioWare GM says RPGs are 'due a renaissance'

Image from BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins.

Aaryn Flynn, former General Manager of BioWare, has spoken about his hopes for the new RPG that his team—including former Capcom and Ubisoft devs—are working on as part of Improbable's Edmonton studio.

The project is still in the early stages but Flynn—who headed the studio responsible for both the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series—hopes to 'push what is possible' in the genre, with the aid of SpatialOS, Improbable's own multiplayer-focused cloud platform. "We remain incredibly bullish about where RPGs can go and I think there's a surprising amount of opportunity there with SpatialOS and RPGs," Flynn says during an interview with PCGamesInsider at GDC.

"The best role-playing games have always offered intimacy and a certain amount of relationships, right?" Flynn comments. "Can SpatialOS do that with a relatively small group of people? Yeah, I think it can and there are things that SpatialOS can help us build that help forge relationships between players in a deeper, more meaningful way."

"Roleplaying as a genre, I feel, is due for a renaissance," says Flynn, though he admits that he doesn't have all the answers. He also acknowledges the amount of work that needs to be done but seems confident that the team can come up with something special. 

"At the end of the day, we just want a bunch of players to have some fun and to do something they haven't done before."

Sarah James
Guides Writer

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she's quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.