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

Key Dragon Age developers have announced their departure from BioWare following the studio's restructuring to focus on the next installment of Mass Effect. On January 29, IGN reported that BioWare had reassigned several of its developers to other projects within EA as it shifts its full attention to Mass Effect 5.

BioWare's general manager, Gary McKay, stated that the studio is "taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work." He further 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."

IGN learned that EA has already transitioned an undisclosed number of BioWare developers into similar roles within the company. However, a smaller group of Dragon Age team members faced termination, though they were given the opportunity to apply for other positions within EA.

Following this announcement, several BioWare developers, including 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, took to social media to announce their departure from the studio and their search for new employment opportunities.

This comes after BioWare experienced layoffs in 2023, and last week, Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche also announced her exit from the studio.

When asked by IGN for details on the number of affected individuals, potential layoffs, and remaining staff 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 significant update. Despite being the first new entry in the fantasy RPG series in a decade, the game's launch was underwhelming. BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard would not receive any post-launch DLC, disappointing fans who expected expansions similar to those of previous Dragon Age titles.

Furthermore, EA revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard fell short of sales expectations by 50%, achieving only 1.5 million players against a target of three million. This shortfall follows various development challenges, including layoffs and the departure of several project leads at different stages, as previously documented.

Regarding Mass Effect, EA mentioned that a "core team" at BioWare, led by veterans from the original trilogy such as Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others, is currently working on the next installment of the series.