Summary
David Gaider, a former lead writer atBioWare, says the teams behindDragon AgeandMass Effectwere often not friendly with each other. The studios' two key franchises have undergone similar experiences in the past few years, with recentMass EffectandDragon Agetitles experiencing lengthy dev cycles and the latest entries in each facing uneven critical and fan receptions. Now a formerBioWareemployee has offered some insight into these series' corporate culture, and it doesn’t paint things in an entirely positive light.
Gaider’s last project at BioWare was the ill-fated live service sci-fi gameAnthem. The companyshut downAnthemin 2021, just two years after its release, which was all the more surprising in light of BioWare’s previous success with both theDragon AgeandMass Effectfranchises. Now that Gaider has shed some light on why he left BioWare, some of the reasons behind these struggles are a little clearer.
In a Bluesky thread about his decision to leave BioWare and form Summerfall Studios, Gaider highlighted the tension between BioWare’s two main teams. According to Gaider,Dragon AgeandMass Effectlargely functioned as separate companies, each with their own cultures and workflows, with neither getting along with the other very well. This structure makes sense in light of comments from another former BioWare dev, Mark Darrah, who said thatDragon Age: The Veilguarddevs would not help withMass Effect 4immediatelyand that it was unusual for the company to have so much of its workforce collaborating on the latestDragon Agetitle.
Further in the thread, Gaider explained how theAnthemteam was largely made up of formerMass Effectstaff. Because Gaider came from theDragon Ageteam, these employees apparently did not extend a warm welcome. Gaider went on to say how his attempts to giveAnthema more science-fantasy feel, which he was told to do, were largely met with criticism that his writing was “tooDragon Age.” This friction between the franchises has popped up before, too. Back in 2022, Mark Darrah said thatMass Effectteams never usedDragon Age’s custom-built tools, and this kind of disconnect led to development problems in both series.
Ultimately, the animosity and difficulties, along with other issues with BioWare’s corporate culture, became too much for Gaider, and he left the studio. It’s now been several years sinceAnthem’s development, so it’s unclear if this is still how things operate at the company. Despite a positive critical reception,Dragon Age: The Veilguardunderperformed EA’s expectations by nearly 50%and was divisive among fans, but it’s uncertain if this is because of problems stemming from BioWare’s internal tension or other issues entirely. All eyes are now turning to the nextMass Effectto see how the company can rebound.
