Key Dragon Age developers have announced they are leaving BioWare after the developer restructured to focus on the next Mass Effect.
Yesterday, January 29, IGN reported that BioWare had moved a number of the studio’s developers onto other projects within EA as it focuses entirely on Mass Effect 5.
General manager Gary McKay said the studio is “taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work.”
“Given this stage of development, we don’t require support from the full studio,” McKay continued. “We have incredible talent here at BioWare, and so we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit.”
IGN understands that EA has already placed an unknown number of developers from BioWare into other, equivalent roles within the company. But a smaller number of Dragon Age team members are also seeing their roles terminated, and are being offered time to apply to other roles within the company if they so choose.
Following the announcement, a number of BioWare developers took to social media to say they were now leaving the studio. Editor Karin West-Weekes, narrative designer and lead writer on Dragon Age: The Veilguard Trick Weekes, and editor Ryan Cormier all said they were looking for work, with producer Jen Cheverie and senior systems designer Michelle Flamm also confirming their exit.
BioWare already suffered a round of layoffs in 2023, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche announced her departure from the studio last week.
IGN asked EA for specifics on how many individuals at BioWare were being impacted by this latest change, how many face potential layoffs, and how many remain at the studio, but EA’s response was vague:
“The studio’s priority was Dragon Age. During this time there were people continuing to build the vision for the next Mass Effect. Now that The Veilguard has shipped, the studio’s full focus is Mass Effect.
“While we’re not sharing numbers, the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development.”
BioWare’s work on Dragon Age: The Veilguard was brought to an end last week with what sounded like its last major update.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard was the first new game in the fantasy RPG series in 10 years, but it came and went not with a bang but a whimper. Amid the launch BioWare confirmed Dragon Age: The Veilguard wouldn’t get any post-launch DLC, shocking fans who had hoped for expansions as previous Dragon Age games had received.
Last week, EA admitted Dragon Age: The Veilguard had failed to meet sales expectations by a whopping 50%; it had expected three million players, but the game managed only 1.5 million. We’ve chronicled some of the game’s development challenges already, including layoffs and the departure of several project leads at different stages.
As for Mass Effect, EA said a “core team” at BioWare is developing the next Mass Effect game under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
