Dragon Age Devs Laid Off as BioWare Shifts Focus to Mass Effect

In a significant development for the gaming industry, key developers from the Dragon Age series at BioWare have announced their departure following a restructuring that shifts the studio's focus to the next installment of Mass Effect. On January 29, IGN reported that BioWare had reassigned a number of its developers to other projects within Electronic Arts (EA) as part of this strategic pivot.

BioWare's general manager, Gary McKay, explained that the studio is using the time between full development cycles to "reimagine how we work." He stated, "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 undisclosed number of BioWare developers into equivalent roles within the company, a smaller group of Dragon Age team members have had their positions terminated. These individuals have been given the opportunity to apply for other roles within EA if they choose to do so.

Following the announcement, several BioWare developers publicly shared their decisions to leave the studio. Notable departures 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. These exits come on the heels of a round of layoffs in 2023 and the recent departure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche.

When IGN sought clarification from EA regarding the number of affected individuals, potential layoffs, and the current headcount at BioWare, the response was not forthcoming on specifics. EA stated, "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 and release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the first new game in the fantasy RPG series in a decade, concluded with what seemed to be its final major update last week. The launch was underwhelming, as BioWare confirmed Dragon Age: The Veilguard wouldn’t get any post-launch DLC, disappointing fans accustomed to expansions in previous Dragon Age titles. Additionally, EA disclosed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had failed to meet sales expectations by a whopping 50%, achieving only 1.5 million players compared to the anticipated three million. The game's development was fraught with challenges, including layoffs and the departure of several project leads at various stages.

Looking ahead, EA revealed that a "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 developing the next Mass Effect game.