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

In a significant shift at BioWare, key developers from the Dragon Age team have announced their departure following the studio's restructuring to focus exclusively on the next installment of the Mass Effect series. On January 29, IGN reported that BioWare had reassigned several of its developers to other projects within EA, signaling a complete pivot to Mass Effect 5.

BioWare's general manager, Gary McKay, explained that the studio is taking advantage of the time between full development cycles to "reimagine how we work." He noted that, at this stage of development, the full studio's support isn't required for Mass Effect 5. "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," McKay added.

While EA has already placed an unspecified number of BioWare developers into equivalent roles within the company, some members of the Dragon Age team are facing termination. These developers are being given the opportunity to apply for other positions within EA. In the wake of 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, have confirmed their departure from the studio via social media.

This move follows a round of layoffs at BioWare in 2023, and the recent exit of Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche. When asked by IGN about the specifics of the impact on BioWare's workforce, EA's response remained vague, emphasizing that the studio now 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 major update. The game, which marked the first new entry in the fantasy RPG series in a decade, did not meet expectations, both in terms of its launch and its subsequent performance. BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard would not receive any post-launch DLC, disappointing fans who anticipated expansions akin to those of previous Dragon Age titles. Moreover, EA admitted that Dragon Age: The Veilguard fell short of sales targets by 50%, achieving only 1.5 million players against a goal of three million. The game's development was fraught with challenges, including layoffs and the departure of several project leads.

Looking ahead, EA confirmed 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 now focused on developing the next Mass Effect game.