EA: BioWare's 'Dylan' Delayed, 'Madden 18' Will Get Technical Engine Updates

Electronic Arts held a call with investors Tuesday to highlight its fourth-quarter and fiscal year earnings. Here are several major takeaways from Tuesday’s call:

New BioWare Title Codenamed Dylan Delayed

BioWare’s upcoming title, which is reportedly codenamed Dylan, has been delayed until fiscal year 2019, meaning the soonest it could come out would be April 2018. Few details have been confirmed about the upcoming game, but in a podcast, games journalist Liam Robertson detailed possible features of Dylan, which potentially will be revealed at E3 2017.

"Dylan is, from what I understand, a sci-fi themed game,” Robertson said. “It is sort of Destiny-style, takes some elements from The Division, it has like MMO elements. Someone described it as a 'semi-MMO.' I don't know much more than that. ... It is a huge scale project, perhaps the biggest BioWare has ever done. It's bigger than Mass Effect Andromeda, considerably so. It will have co-op.”

Star Wars Titles An Emphasis For EA

EA has several major Star Wars titles on its upcoming release calendar, including previously announced titles from developers Visceral and Respawn. But at the moment, EA has turned much of its attention to the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront II, which is the sequel to the 2013 large-format first-person multiplayer shooter.

The original title, which is itself a reboot of the Battlefront series that appeared on Xbox and PlayStation 2, earned strong marks thanks to its recreations of levels and assets from the original Star Wars series but was dinged by critics due to limited content at launch and the lack of a single-player campaign.

EA officials said Star Wars: Battlefront II, which will release in November, fixes many of the initial reboot’s missteps, with its single-player campaign and other updates. Through its expanded levels, features and character roster, EA says Battlefront II will have “three times” the amount of content the original Battlefront did at launch.

eSports

EA dipped its toes briefly into the emerging eSports market, but looks to invest more heavily this year. CEO Andrew Wilson’s comments:

"Competitive gaming and eSports will be a key growth vector for us throughout FY18 as we expand the ways that fans can play and watch. Year two of our FIFA and Madden NFL championships will kick off this fall, featuring millions of competitive games through Ultimate Team, deeper partnerships with leagues and teams that add new dimensions to the tournaments and new venues for our major global championships.

"Later this year, we’ll launch our first Battlefield 1 competitions, unlocking the competitive spirit that runs deep in our Battlefield community. We are also continuing to expand our broadcast reach and content portfolio for our growing spectator audience. There is global excitement for our competitions, and this year we will broadcast our tournaments and additional programming through more major network partnerships including ESPN, BT Sport, Univision and more."

Madden 18 Moves to Frostbite Engine

EA previously told investors in January about the technical update to its flagship NFL series and expressed further support of the move during the call. EA said the move to a new engine will give Madden 18 improved graphical performance and provide additional development flexibility. Frostbite was made by developer DICE and was used in titles including Battlefield 1 and Star Wars: Battlefront.

While few details have been confirmed yet about Madden 18, other EA titles provide a sign of how the jump might go. Last year’s FIFA 17 made the jump to Frostbite and analysts at Digital Foundry did a side-by-side comparison of the graphics between FIFA 16 and FIFA 17:

Nintendo Switch & Future EA Titles

Like many industry observers, EA has taken notice of the strong launch for the Nintendo Switch. The company said it is bullish on prospects for the new Nintendo console and will look to bring games to the console in the future. Already, EA plans to launch a version of FIFA for the Switch, which has an indefinite release date.