Dragon Age Devs Laid Off as BioWare Shifts Focus to Mass Effect

In a recent development that has sent ripples through the gaming community, several key developers from the Dragon Age team have announced their departure from BioWare. This follows a strategic restructuring within the studio, which is now fully pivoting its focus toward the development of the next *Mass Effect* title.

On January 29, IGN reported that BioWare had reassigned a number of its staff to other roles within Electronic Arts (EA) as part of this shift in priorities. Gary McKay, BioWare’s general manager, explained the decision by stating 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 sources, EA has already transitioned an undisclosed number of former BioWare developers into comparable positions elsewhere within the company. However, some members of the *Dragon Age* development team are being let go, though they are being given time to apply for alternative roles within EA if available.

Following the announcement, several notable figures from the *Dragon Age* franchise shared updates on their professional transitions via social media. Karin West-Weekes, editor; Trick Weekes, narrative designer and lead writer on *Dragon Age: The Veilguard*; and Ryan Cormier, editor, all confirmed they were now seeking new opportunities. Producer Jen Cheverie and senior systems designer Michelle Flamm also announced their departures from the studio.

This news comes after a round of layoffs at BioWare in 2023, and just days after *Dragon Age: The Veilguard* director Corinne Busche publicly revealed her exit from the company.

When contacted for comment, EA declined to provide exact figures regarding how many employees were affected or how many remain at the studio. Instead, the publisher issued a vague statement:

“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.”

BioWare’s involvement with *Dragon Age: The Veilguard* officially concluded last week, following what appeared to be its final major update. As the first entry in the beloved fantasy RPG series in a decade, expectations were high—but unfortunately, the game launched quietly without much fanfare.

The situation grew more concerning when, around launch, BioWare confirmed that *Dragon Age: The Veilguard* would not receive any post-launch DLC, disappointing fans who anticipated expansions similar to those offered by previous entries in the series.

Last week, EA admitted that *Dragon Age: The Veilguard* missed sales projections by a staggering 50%. While the publisher had projected three million players, the game only managed to attract 1.5 million. We've previously documented the many challenges faced during the game’s development, including staff reductions and the exit of multiple project leads throughout various stages of production.

Looking ahead, EA has confirmed that a "core team" at BioWare is currently working on the next installment in the *Mass Effect* franchise. Leading the charge are veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and other experienced developers.