Two Key BioWare Leads Leave The Studio

BioWare's Casey Hudson (general manager) and Mark Darrah (Dragon Age: Inquisition executive producer) are retiring from the studio to make way for a new wave of creators. Hudson will be replaced by interim general manager Gary McKay (senior director of development operations) and Darrah's role will be filled by Christian Dailey (BioWare Austin studio director).

"It's not an easy decision to make, and big changes like this always come with a certain degree of sadness," Hudson wrote in a farewell post on the BioWare blog. "I will miss being able to work every day with our inspiring developers on the biggest and most exciting projects I can imagine. But I also know that this is a good time for a change, for both myself and BioWare."

Darrah echoed Hudson's sentiment, saying he's confident in BioWare's pedigree as a studio and is certain the Dragon Age series will live on without him spearheading development.

"This has been a very difficult decision for me," Darrah wrote in his farewell statement. "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."

Darrah and Hudson have been with BioWare for over 20 years, with Darrah working as a lead programmer on the Baldur's Gate series and Hudson starting as a technical artist on MDK2. Hudson would eventually become creative director on the original three Mass Effect games. Writer Mac Walters took over as director for Mass Effect Andromeda.

Hudson had previously left BioWare in August 2014, after which he joined Microsoft Studios (now Xbox Game Studios) as creative director in May 2015. After a brief stint at Microsoft, Hudson returned to BioWare in July 2017 as general manager, replacing Aaryn Flynn.

BioWare recently unveiled the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which bundles the first three Mass Effect games and spruces them up with better resolutions and higher frame rates. This package launches in Spring 2021. The studio is hard-at-work on another Mass Effect entry.

The studio also confirmed that Dragon Age 4 is currently in development but didn't share any details about the game, including an estimated release window or targeted launch platforms.

BioWare is also still toiling away at Anthem, which is currently being overhauled to "reinvent the core gameplay loop," according to Hudson. This 2.0 version of Anthem (effectively called Anthem Next) is still coming, but the studio said the redesign is going to be a long process.