Dragon Age’s Former Narrative Lead Describes “Quiet Resentment” from BioWare’s Other Teams Towards Writers

In light of the recent writer’s strike that was kicked off earlier this week, Dragon Age narrative lead David Gaider has called the discipline “constantly undervalued”, and has revealed that even other teams in BioWare “quietly resented” writers.

Taking to Twitter, Gaider said that, even in 2016, he felt a resentment from other parts of the studio.

“Even BioWare, which built its success on a reputation for good stories and characters, slowly turned from a company that vocally valued its writers to one where we were… quietly resented, with a reliance on expensive narrative seen as the ‘albatross’ holding the company back,” Gaider said on Twitter.

David Gaider worked with BioWare for 17 years before his departure back in 2016. Gaider worked as the lead writer for Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Dragon Age: Inquisition. BioWare is currently working on its fourth Dragon Age game, titled Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.

Recently, former BioWare veteran Mark Darrah returned the studio as a consultant to help development on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. EA is also reportedly bringing in the Mass Effect team to help on the game’s development.

Maybe that sounds like a heavy charge, but it's what I distinctly felt up until I left in 2016. Suddenly all anyone in charge was asking was "how do we have LESS writing?" A good story would simply happen, via magic wand, rather than be something that needed support and priority.

— David Gaider (@davidgaider) May 3, 2023