Mass Effect 5 (or whatever it ends up titled) has been in the works for years, but with the sci-fi RPG still clearly in the early stages of production, BioWare’s behind-the-scenes functioning has been questioned. However, the newest changes announced by the studio might raise more questions.
In a blog update, BioWare GK Gary McKay has said that the next Mass Effect is continuing development with a team of veterans who worked on the original trilogy. They include Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley. However, McKay said that the project “requires support from the full studio,” which, as you might imagine, means changes are inbound.
For starters, an undisclosed number of BioWare employees have been assigned to projects in the works at other studios across EA.
“Now that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been released, a core team at BioWare is developing the next Mass Effect game under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others,” McKay writes.
“In keeping with our fierce commitment to innovating during the development and delivery of Mass Effect, we have challenged ourselves to think deeply about delivering the best experience to our fans. We are taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare.
“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 has claimed in its report that several members of the Dragon Age: The Veilguard development team were also laid off from the studio. Former employees have taken to social media to confirm the same, including editor Ryan Cormier, producer Jen Cheverie, narrative designer Trick Weekes, and editor Karin West-Weekes.
McKay says BioWare will “become a more agile, focused studio” following these changes. Alarmingly, he used almost the same language when BioWare announced 50 job cuts in August 2023, which also included several veteran writers. Dragon Age: The Veilguard game director Corinne Busche recently also left the studio, citing an unmissable opportunity to work on an unannounced RPG elsewhere.
It was recently reported that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had underperformed, having reached just 1.5 million players as of December 31st, 2024. The game has contributed to a $6 billion market value loss for publisher EA.
