Key members of the Dragon Age development team have announced their departure from BioWare following a major studio restructuring aimed at refocusing efforts on the upcoming *Mass Effect 5*. This news comes shortly after IGN reported on January 29 that several developers previously working on *Dragon Age: The Veilguard* had been reassigned to other projects within EA.

BioWare’s general manager, Gary McKay, stated that the studio is “taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work.” He further explained, “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 IGN, EA has already transitioned an undisclosed number of BioWare developers into equivalent roles elsewhere in the company. However, some members of the *Dragon Age* team are being let go, though they are being offered time to apply for alternative positions within EA if available.

Following the announcement, several high-profile developers took to social media to share that they are now leaving the studio. Among them are editor Karin West-Weekes, narrative designer and lead writer on *Dragon Age: The Veilguard*, Trick Weekes, and editor Ryan Cormier—all of whom are now seeking new opportunities. Producer Jen Cheverie and senior systems designer Michelle Flamm also confirmed their departures.

This isn’t the first round of layoffs at BioWare—2023 saw similar reductions—and just last week, *Dragon Age: The Veilguard* director Corinne Busche announced her exit from the company.

When contacted by IGN for clarification on how many individuals are affected by these changes, how many may be laid off, and how many remain, EA provided only a vague response:

"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."

Last week marked the end of BioWare’s active development on *Dragon Age: The Veilguard*, which had been released as the franchise’s first new entry in a decade. Unfortunately, the game launched quietly without much fanfare. Worse still, BioWare confirmed that *The Veilguard* would not receive any post-launch DLC—a surprising move that disappointed many fans who had expected expansions similar to those of previous titles.

EA recently admitted that *Dragon Age: The Veilguard* fell significantly short of sales expectations, missing its target by a full 50%. The company projected three million players but only reached 1.5 million. As previously reported, the game faced numerous development challenges, including internal layoffs and the exit of several key project leads throughout its production cycle.

On a more positive note, EA confirmed that a core team at BioWare is currently developing the next *Mass Effect* title. Leading the effort are veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others—offering a glimmer of hope to long-time fans of the sci-fi RPG series.