EA and BioWare have announced that studio veterans Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah are leaving the developer. Hudson began working at BioWare in 2000, and would go on to create the Mass Effect franchise. After directing the original trilogy, he left the studio in 2014, before returning in 2017 in the capacity of General Manager. Meanwhile, Darrah had been at BioWare for over twenty years, and had serves as one of the top creative leads on the Dragon Age franchise.
EA’s Chief Studios Officer Laura Miele writes in a statement that the search for a new GM for BioWare is already underway, while Hudson has said in a statement of his own that Sr. Director of Development Operations Gary McKay will serve as the interim GM until that search is complete. Samantha Ryan, who is SVP at EA, will continue to oversee the studio.
Work on all currently ongoing projects is also going to continue despite Hudson and Darrah’s departures. Darrah was serving as the executive producer on Dragon Age 4, and that project will now be headed by Christian Dailey, Studio Head at BioWare Austin. BioWare Austin is also currently working on the overhaul of Anthem. Darrah writes in his personal farewell statement that Matthew Goldman, who has been working on the Dragon Age series since its inception, will stay on as Creative Director.
Then there’s Mass Effect, which has multiple projects in development. One is Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which launches in Spring 2021 and remasters and compiles the original Mass Effect trilogy. BioWare recently confirmed that the next Mass Effect mainline game is also in the works.
The Mass Effect team will be headed by Mike Gamble, who has been at BioWare for over a decade. He was involved with the development of Mass Effect 2 and 3, was a Producer on Mass Effect: Andromeda, and was Lead Producer on Anthem.
