Next Mass Effect: BioWare "borrowing" many game systems from Dragon Age III

BioWare Montreal is "borrowing" many game systems from Dragon Age: Inquisition to speed up development on the next Mass Effect title, studio director Yannick Roy said on Twitter today.

After he tweeted a picture of a design document for the next Mass Effect, a fan suggested the game could be "years" away based on the heftiness of the folder.

Roy responded, "Don't worry: we have a large and talented team, we started a while ago, and we are 'borrowing' a lot of game systems from [Dragon Age III]."

None of these systems were detailed. Dragon Age: Inquisition was recently delayed a year from fall 2013 to fall 2014. In addition, the "III" was dropped from its title.

BioWare announced the next Mass Effect game last September. It will not feature Commander Shepard, as his story came to a close in last year's Mass Effect 3. The untitled game will run on the Frostbite 3 engine and, according to executive producer Casey Hudson, will be "fresh and new."

In addition to a new Mass Effect, BioWare is building an all-new IP and continues to work with Legendary Pictures on an upcoming Mass Effect film.