Did BioWare work on Jade Empire 2?

By Robert Purchese Published 13 April, 2011

That's what a former employee claims.

It appears BioWare does more than talk about a Jade Empire sequel - an ex-employee claims he worked on Jade Empire 2 between 2006 and 2007.

Rafael Brown, now a project lead at id Software, listed "Jade Empire 2 (360/PS3/PC)" under the unreleased games he's worked on. He also mentioned True Crime 3&4, Gun 2 and Nintendo's Thunder Rally.

That one year and one month Brown spent at BioWare, between 2006-2007, pre-dates the release of Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins, as well as the acquisition by EA.

How far along the Jade Empire 2 project was, Brown didn't say; it might have been purely conceptual.

It's a leap of faith to believe Jade Empire 2 would have materialised on PS3, given that BioWare didn't enter Sony's market until late 2009, with the release of Dragon Age: Origins.

The original Jade Empire, a martial arts game inspired by ancient China, was released on Xbox in 2004. Eurogamer awarded a healthy 8/10.

Eurogamer quizzed lead Jade Empire writer Mike Laidlaw recently about the possibility of a new Jade Empire game.

"The thing with Jade Empire is ultimately it's one of our intellectual properties, it's there, and one that we're intensely proud of. It did such a neat job of building this fantastical world," said Laidlaw.

"Currently obviously nothing is announced. It's one of those things that long-term, Jade [Empire] could make a comeback."

"It may," he added, "but we'll see how time goes."

Jade Empire: Special Edition for PC.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Floppy #1 1 year ago

    I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

  • Phantom_Dynamite #2 1 year ago

    I ask Santa every year for Jade Empire 2 and even a proper sequel to KotoR but he never delivers, I guess I have been a bad boy.

  • MojoDex #3 1 year ago

    I kind of exspect them to do the same thing that happend with Skyrim. Just turn around one day and go "by the way Jade Empire 2 will be out this year". Wishful thinking?
    Edited by MojoDex at 13/04/11 @ 17:34

  • The-Bodybuilder #4 1 year ago

    I pt Jade Empire 2 with Shenmue 3; games that I want but will only ever remain in my fantasy.

  • Xboxfanuk #5 1 year ago

    Why not have three huge RPG franchises on consoles?

  • Subdominator #6 1 year ago

    #3 Bioware, not Bethesda.

  • Baranga #7 1 year ago

    I'd love to play sequels to Jade Empire and Gun.

  • ninjasinthesnow #8 1 year ago

    That last comment sounds like developer speak for '...um yea we've been working on this for a while but we're not saying anything yet'. Can't wait for the teaser at E3 then :)

  • Incarta #9 1 year ago

    Loved Jade Empire. I think it was the first Bioware game I played.

  • Dannyboy1100 #10 1 year ago

    @Phantom_Dynamite

    Lold

  • Miths #11 1 year ago

    I finally started playing Jade Empire for the first time two days ago - I'm around six hours in and so far it's been quite enjoyable, although I definitely wouldn't rank it among the best RPGs I've ever played, neither in terms of gameplay nor story and dialogue. I'd say that at this point it probably feels like a solid 8.

    I actually bought it on Steam well over a year ago if I recall correctly, but I couldn't get it to run on Vista x64 back then so I gave up. I can't recall what prompted me to finally go search for a solution to the crashes the other day (and after I found that, another one to get rid of the annoying default 30 fps cap), but I'm glad I did.

  • TormDK #12 1 year ago

    Xboxfanuk - Because more titles means Moar moniez?

  • Mr.Spo #13 1 year ago

    Given the leap in quality technology allowed from KOTOR to Mass Effect, the leap from Jade Empire to a sequel would be fantastic. Please let it happen someday--it's one universe I could be see much more of.

  • Markusdragon #14 1 year ago

    *twitch*

  • ArcticGabe #15 1 year ago

    First day for me if ever released

  • sabbede #16 1 year ago

    Why the hell didn't they make JE2 instead of DA2?

    Something makes me want to blame EA for all of this.

  • Headless_Monkey_Boy #17 1 year ago

    I think they should, i mean they've got the epic butch sci-fi, the token epic fantasy, and another Licensed epic MMo they should be wary of using their existing genres to death (with something like a mass effect mmo- not saying they couldn't do it). I realize Jade Empire is techniclly fantasy but with its art and themes its more like "east punk" (?). it would make a refreshing change.

  • HarryTuttle #18 1 year ago

    Jade Empire was the one boiware game that left me completely cold. I guess I expected a martial arts game to feature some, you know, martial arts rather than dull as shit rock-paper-scissors. Though now that I think about it I had just finished Shenmue 2 when I played it, so it was bound to suffer by comparison...

  • Iain #19 1 year ago

    Make. It. Happen.

    Jade Empire was/is such a memorable game. I certainly hope to see a new entry in that series.

  • sabbede #20 1 year ago

    "why the hell did they have to butcher Origins and turn it in to a shitty half baked action game?!"

    You know, if they had gone all the way with it and made a game with JE style combat/gameplay, but set in the DA world, it would have been awesome. I suppose hybridization is a delicate task, and easy to butcher.