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

Key developers from the Dragon Age series have announced their departure from BioWare following a studio restructuring aimed at concentrating efforts on the upcoming Mass Effect game. On January 29, IGN reported that BioWare had reassigned several of its developers to other projects within EA, as the studio shifts its focus entirely to Mass Effect 5.

BioWare's general manager, Gary McKay, stated that the studio is using the time between major development cycles to "reimagine how we work." He added, "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 successfully placed an unspecified number of BioWare developers into equivalent roles within the company. However, a smaller group of Dragon Age team members are facing termination, though they are being given the opportunity to apply for other positions within EA.

Following the announcement, several BioWare developers used social media to confirm 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 news comes after BioWare experienced layoffs in 2023, and last week, Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche also announced her departure.

When IGN inquired about the specifics of the number of affected individuals at BioWare, potential layoffs, and the remaining staff, EA provided a vague 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 work on Dragon Age: The Veilguard concluded last week with what was described as its final major update. Despite being the first new game in the Dragon Age series in a decade, its launch was underwhelming. BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard would not receive any post-launch DLC, disappointing fans accustomed to expansions from previous titles. Last week, EA revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard fell short of sales expectations by 50%, reaching only 1.5 million players instead of the anticipated three million. The game's development was fraught with challenges, including layoffs and the exit of several project leads at various stages.

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