Today, BioWare released a new studio update sharing that Casey Hudson, GM, BioWare, and Mark Darrah, Executive Producer, Dragon Age, are moving on from the studio. Both Casey and Mark have been with the studio since the early days of the company. With their departures, Gary Mckay has been announced as the interim studio GM, and Christian Dailey will be taking over Mark Darrah’s position as executive producer for Dragon Age. All of BioWare’s current projects in production including Anthem Next, the next Dragon Age, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, and the next Mass Effect have not been affected by the departures of Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah.
Laura Milele, Chief Studios Officer, Electronic Arts, talked about today’s news saying “we strive for all of our studios to be places where talented creative people come to do career-defining work. A dimension of this ambition is that sometimes those people want to try something different. Casey Hudson, GM, Bioware, and Mark Darrah, Executive Producer, Dragon Age are two of those people and they have decided to move on from BioWare. I want to personally thank Casey and Mark for everything they have done for the BioWare community, and particularly for our players. They will always be an essential part of the studio’s history, we appreciate their many contributions, and we look forward to seeing what they’ll each do next.”
“It’s not an easy decision to make, and big changes like this always come with a certain degree of sadness. I will miss being able to work every day with our inspiring developers on the biggest and most exciting projects I can imagine,” Hudson said. “But I also know that this is a good time for a change, for both myself and BioWare.”
Mark Darrah said: “This has been a very difficult decision for me. The team of amazing developers on Dragon Age, make my life fuller and better. They have taught me so much. But the strength of the team is also what makes this possible. I know that Dragon Age won’t just survive without me, it will thrive.”
While Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah are retiring from Bioware, another former BioWare veteran is a part of a new studio that was recently announced. Mike Laidlaw, who was the Creative Director at BioWare on the Dragon Age series worked closely with Mark Darrah on Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Dragon Age Inquisition. Mike Laidlaw is now the Chief Creative Officer at Yellow Brick Games which he helped form with other former EA, Ubisoft, and Activision Blizzard developers.