Key developers from the Dragon Age series have announced their departure from BioWare following the studio's restructuring to concentrate on the upcoming Mass Effect game. On January 29, IGN reported that BioWare had shifted several of its developers to other projects within EA as part of this new focus.
BioWare's general manager, Gary McKay, stated that the studio is using the time between major development cycles to "reimagine how we work." He explained, "Given this stage of development, we don’t require support from the full studio. 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."
While EA has successfully placed an unspecified number of BioWare developers into equivalent roles within the company, a smaller group of Dragon Age team members are facing termination. These individuals are being given the opportunity to apply for other positions within EA.
In the wake of this announcement, several BioWare developers took to social media to announce their departure from the studio. Notable exits include editor Karin West-Weekes, narrative designer and lead writer on Dragon Age: The Veilguard Trick Weekes, editor Ryan Cormier, producer Jen Cheverie, and senior systems designer Michelle Flamm, all of whom are now seeking new employment opportunities.
This follows previous layoffs at BioWare in 2023 and the recent departure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche. When asked by IGN for details on the number of affected individuals, potential layoffs, and the current staff size at BioWare, EA provided a non-specific response: "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."
The development of Dragon Age: The Veilguard concluded last week with its final major update. The game, the first new entry in the fantasy RPG series in a decade, did not meet expectations upon release. BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard would not receive any post-launch DLC, disappointing fans accustomed to expansions in previous Dragon Age titles.
EA revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard fell short of sales targets by 50%, achieving only 1.5 million players against an expected three million. The game's development was fraught with challenges, including layoffs and the exit of several project leads at various stages.
Meanwhile, EA confirmed that a dedicated "core team" at BioWare, led by veterans from the original Mass Effect trilogy such as Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley, is currently working on the next installment in the Mass Effect series.
