Today, Bioware announced that the executive producer of Dragon Age 4 and the studio general manager have left the company. Dragon Age 4 is currently in development and fans were treated to a behind the scenes look at the next installment for the franchise earlier this year.
There could be any number of reasons a large company makes changes to its leadership, but it often revolves around some sort of change in direction. When this is applied to a creative endeavor, however, a change in leadership can have an instantaneous and sometimes dramatic effect on a project's quality, especially if millions of dollars have already been spent in pursuit of a particular vision. Dragon Age 4 could face this very predicament as two keys leaders of the production team will no longer be part of the game's development or Bioware.
Executive producer Mark Darrah and studio manager Casey Hudson both released statements on Bioware's website announcing their decisions to step away from the game developer. Both individuals had been part of the Bioware team for around 20 years and each expressed their mixed emotions about leaving the company. They expressed pride in all they accomplished with their many coworkers and the sadness of leaving it all behind. Both Darrah and Hudson referred to their departures as retirements in order to allow for the next generation of leadership to take over at Bioware. They gave their assurances that all upcoming projects, including Dragon Age 4, would be in capable hands.
The reaction to the news has been largely unhappy to say the least. Many longtime Bioware fans have expressed their concerns about what this might mean for the game developer going forward. Some fans have even pointed a guilty finger at parent company EA, which has been known to meddle with other developers it owns. While no specific reason is known for the sudden retirements, the abruptness of it all is what seems to be the most concerning to fans.
The unhappy reaction is both expected and understandable. Darrah and Hudson have been staples at Bioware for decades, adding their creative flavor to some of the best games the studio has ever produced like the core Mass Effect trilogy and the other Dragon Age games. It is still too early to tell what impact their departures will mean for upcoming projects like the sequels to their two biggest series. Either way, it is safe to assume that fans will be cautious when it comes to Bioware projects in the near future, especially when it comes to Dragon Age 4.
Source: Mark Darrah, Casey Hudson
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