Mass Effect Director Returns To Head Up BioWare, As Current Boss Departs

Mass Effect and Dragon Age studio BioWare has announced Aaryn Flynn, general manager of its Edmonton-based studio, will be leaving. Casey Hudson, who initially left BioWare in August 2014, will return to take up the position as his replacement.

In a post on the BioWare Blog, Flynn confirmed he will be "working with [Hudson] over the next couple of weeks to help catch him up and do my part to set him up for success to be the best GM he can be," before leaving at the end of July.

"The last few years have been transformative for me, from having time to reflect on what I most want to do, to working with new technologies at platform scale," Hudson said in a separate blog post. "And now, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to return to lead BioWare--a studio that I think of as home."

Flynn has been involved in all of BioWare's major games, including Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Jade Empire. While Hudson also worked on these games, he is known widely for serving as director of the first three Mass Effect games.

Flynn's departure and Hudson's return comes amidst reports that BioWare is putting the Mass Effect series on "hiatus," following the somewhat underwhelming response to Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Further reports have indicated that a small team is now working on Andromeda to push out fixes and support its multiplayer portion. However, many developers from BioWare Montreal, which led development on Andromeda, have moved on to other projects. Some are now believed to be at EA Motive, which is contributing to the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront II (as well as another project that won't be out until at least 2018, if not later).

BioWare Edmonton, meanwhile, has unveiled its new IP, Anthem, which is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2018. Gameplay of Anthem was shown during E3 2017, and it was previously described as an action IP "built around a live service" that features a "disruptive new social design."