Studio general manager and original Mass Effect trilogy project director Casey Hudson and Dragon Age series executive producer Mark Darrah have announced their departures from BioWare this week, ending 2020 on an awkward but maybe not exactly unexpected “jeez, now what?”.
This is actually Hudson’s second retirement – he first left in 2014, and worked at Microsoft Studios as a creative director until rejoining BioWare in 2017. Besides Mass Effect, his BioWare credits also include Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, Neverwinter Nights, and Knights of the Old Republic. Citing “a year that forced all of us to re-imagine how we think about work and life”, Hudson explains on the studio’s blog that he wants to move on to “more personal work” now, whatever that means.
“It’s not an easy decision to make, and big changes like this always come with a certain degree of sadness. I will miss being able to work every day with our inspiring developers on the biggest and most exciting projects I can imagine. But I also know that this is a good time for a change, for both myself and BioWare.”
Mark Darrah, who’s been with BioWare since the 90s – working as a programmer on the Baldur’s Gate series before Dragon Age – cites more or less the same reasons in his blog post.
“This year has been transformative to the way we do everything. The way we work, the way we socialize; these are things that have changed. Some of these changes are temporary but others will remain forever. I believe that this gives us an opportunity to bring in new voices. To reimagine how we work. To strengthen how we tell stories.”
Development on the new Dragon Age game and the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remaster won’t be interrupted, according to EA’s Laura Miele, who promises in a different blog post that she “could not be more confident or optimistic” about BioWare’s prospects without Hudson and Darrah.
“As we look to the studio’s future and the projects currently under development, the next generation of BioWare talent is leading the studio forward and working on some incredible games that I know you will be excited to experience in the coming years.”
I love that she conveniently skips over the other game, though. So much for that “100% committed” thing.