Dragon Age Team 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 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 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 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."

According to IGN, EA has already 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 and are being given the opportunity to apply for other roles within EA.

Following the announcement, several BioWare developers took to social media to confirm their departure from the studio. Notable departures 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 opportunities.

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

When asked by IGN for details on 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 development of Dragon Age: The Veilguard concluded last week with its final major update. The game, the first new entry in the fantasy RPG series in a decade, did not meet expectations upon its release. BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard would not receive any post-launch DLC, disappointing fans accustomed to expansions from previous titles. EA later revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard fell short of sales targets by 50%, achieving only 1.5 million players instead of the anticipated three million. The game's development faced numerous challenges, including layoffs and the departure of several project leads at various stages.

For the upcoming 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 in development.