Big BioWare bosses bounce, leaving big questions about state of studio
BioWare executive Casey Hudson and Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah announced that they are leaving the company.
“I’m incredibly fortunate to have had a career where I’ve been able to work with brilliantly talented people, create entire worlds from our imaginations, and see them being enjoyed by millions of people around the world,” Hudson said in a post on the company’s official blog. “I’ve made the decision to retire from the studio and make way for the next generation of studio leaders.”
Darrah echoed Hudson’s sentiments saying that leaving was a difficult decision, but he’s also decided to retire from the company.
Both men were responsible for many of the studio’s most legendary games, but their hands on role had diminished in recent years. Hudson had previously left to work at Microsoft Games Studios, but had returned in 2017.
It’s certainly no secret that BioWare has been struggling as of late. Their last two releases are widely regarded as both critical and commercial failures. Mass Effect: Andromeda, the return to the beloved sci-fi universe, was plagued with delays and PR scandals. This includes questions regarding the qualifications of certain staff members, as well as inappropriate comments made by developers David Cooks and Manveer Heir.
Their most recent release, Anthem, had a bad run from the start. The studio had little experience in the live service looter shooter genre. What they ended up releasing was a shoddy mess that lacked content, or any sort of fun factor. This was on top of several bugs, including a notorious one that was soft-bricking some PlayStation 4s.
As someone who’s been around the corporate block a few times, it’s rare to see two high level executives suddenly up and “retire” like this. Suggesting that parent company Electronic Arts is looking for someone to finger these failures on. EA themselves have a track record of strip mining studios then closing them as soon as they lose their value. So this leaves a lot of questions floating in the air regarding the future of BioWare.
