14 DAY TRIAL // An updated LinkedIn page from a former BioWare developer shows that a sequel to Jade Empire did exist at some point and that the development studio stopped working on it when it was bought by video game publisher Electronic Arts.
Rafael Brown is now a project leader working at id Software and information on his work related page shows that the unreleased video games that he worked on include Jade Empire 2, but also Gun 2, Thunder Rally, True Crime 3 and 4.
He says that the Jade Empire 2 project was being worked on between 2006 and 2007.
Electronic Arts picked up BioWare, which had before then merged with Pandemic, in October 2007 and since then the developer has become one of the most important studios in the company, handling development of both role-playing games and, more recently, MMOs.
Since being picked up by Electronic Arts BioWare has created two very successful new franchises, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, which were both created in completely new game worlds in order to allow the designers a lot of freedom with both the stories told and the game mechanics.
It is highly unlikely that previous series handled by the company, like Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, will ever get sequels from BioWare.
Jade Empire 2 might be revived at some point, mainly because it was not based on property licensed from other companies and because of the unique nature of the experience.
The original game allowed the player to go through an adventure modeled on ancient Chinese stories, with martial arts and dialogues that were often built around spiritual subjects.
It was similar in terms of some mechanics to the Knights of the Old Republic experience, but the world it created was very different from everything the BioWare created up to that point.