Summary

• BioWare’s Dragon Age and Mass Effect teams largely operated independently, often without cooperation.
• The Anthem team, made up of former Mass Effect staff, did not welcome members from the Dragon Age team.
• Ongoing cultural conflicts at BioWare contributed to recent challenges with game releases.

David Gaider, a former lead writer at BioWare, recently shed light on the lack of collaboration between the teams behind the major franchises, Dragon Age and Mass Effect. While both franchises have had tumultuous experiences in recent years, facing long development cycles and mixed responses from players and critics, Gaider’s insights reveal deeper issues regarding workplace dynamics.

Gaider’s last job at BioWare involved the creation of the unsuccessful live service game Anthem, which was ultimately shut down in 2021, just two years after launching. His departure from the company illustrates some of the more serious underlying issues that have affected the studio’s performance over the years.

“That was a mistake. You see, the thing you need to know about BioWare is that for a long time it was basically two teams under one roof: the Dragon Age team and the Mass Effect team. Run differently, very different cultures, may as well have been two separate studios. And they didn’t get along.”

— David Gaider, Source

In an online discussion about his choice to leave BioWare and establish Summerfall Studios, Gaider highlighted the persistent tensions between the Dragon Age and Mass Effect teams, who operated as if they were separate entities. This lack of unity further complicates the development processes, with previous comments from another ex-employee, Mark Darrah, supporting Gaider’s claims that collaboration between these two franchises has been minimal.

As Dragon Age: The Veilguard struggles to meet expectations upon its launch, and as the next Mass Effect game inches closer to release, both franchises are under scrutiny to determine whether internal conflicts still hinder their success.