Last week, BioWare’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard received its fifth patch, and the patch notes read as if the game was done getting any major updates. Now, the developer has released a studio update that basically confirms it’s undergoing some major changes. Stating that it’s “turning towards the future and preparing for the next chapter in BioWare’s story,” the company stated it’s changing how it builds games in order to meet the needs of its upcoming projects and hold itself to a higher standard. So now, as it turns its focus to the next Mass Effect game, it’s taking the opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how they work.
While the next Mass Effect game is being developed under the leadership of several veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and more, it appears there are going to be some BioWare team members that won’t be contributing. That’s because the studio said that at this stage of development, it doesn’t need support from the full studio, and as a result, a number of BioWare employees have been moved to other EA teams that have open roles. There were no mentions of layoffs, as it feels like the statement is intentionally vague.
You can read the full statement from BioWare General Manager, Gary McKay, below.
Hello Everyone,
Today, we are turning towards the future and preparing for the next chapter in BioWare’s story. As we announced in August 2023, we are changing how we build games to meet the needs of our upcoming projects and hold ourselves to the highest quality standards.
Now that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been released, 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.
In keeping with our fierce commitment to innovating during the development and delivery of Mass Effect, we have challenged ourselves to think deeply about delivering the best experience to our fans. We are taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare.
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.
Today’s news will see BioWare become a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs. We appreciate your support as we build a new future for BioWare.
Gary McKay
General Manager, BioWare
