If you’re a fan of the Dragon Age franchise, you know the name Mike Laidlaw, as he was the main mind driving it, acting as a designer, director, and overall creative director for the series. Unfortunately, Laidlaw left BioWare back in 2017 after doing some early pre-production work on Dragon Age 4 (that game was officially teased by BioWare back in 2018, but we haven’t seen much of it since, aside from a few screenshots).
Laidlaw has bounced around a bit since leaving BioWare, briefly serving as creative director at Assassin’s Creed Odyssey developer Ubisoft Quebec, but it seems he’s now stepping out in a new direction with the just-announced indie studio Yellow Brick Games. Laidlaw will serve as chief creative officer for the new studio, which is located in Quebec City, Canada, and will be joined by other Canadian gaming industry vets from Ubisoft, BioWare, and EA, including Thomas Giroux, Jeff Skalski, and Frédéric St-Laurent B. According to Laidlaw, the goal of Yellow Brick Games is to remain “small and agile,” while creating “wonderous journeys” for players…
The market for independent games is growing rapidly, and the technology is keeping pace. Small, diverse teams can now create high-quality experiences. For veterans of big-studio productions like myself and much of our team, this is the perfect time to get back to a small, agile, and highly motivated group. We want our games here at Yellow Brick to take potentially millions of players on wonderous journeys, and we want every member of our team to have a direct impact on the new worlds we’re creating.
No details yet on Yellow Bricks Games’ first project, but the studio already has around 15 employees working on whatever it is. The studio’s new website also lists the following keywords, which may hint at what kind of game they’re working on…
- Emergent – Interactive worlds simulated with rich systems that create memorable interactions.
- Intriguing – Beautiful worlds that challenge the mind and inspire the imagination.
- Worth Watching – Compelling experiences for both players and viewers alike.
What do you think? Excited to see what Laidlaw and company could produce with a little more creative freedom?
