Former Dragon Age series executive producer Mark Darrah says he doesn’t feel EA and BioWare efficiently supported his team during the early development of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
The ex-BioWare developer shed light on his time working on the legendary fantasy RPG franchise during a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel. His story recounts events that transpired throughout 2017 or, according to Darrah, “the most impactful 12 months in BioWare’s history.” He touches on not only decisions that affected the early development of last year’s Dragon Age game but how a change in attitude was tied to the final days of development on Mass Effect: Andromeda.
It starts in late 2016, when Darrah was moved over to the team that would handle the last stages of development on Andromeda. He says his “feeling at the time” was that the Dragon Age team felt “jerked around” and had “no support from BioWare or EA.” The hope was that Darrah could aid in getting Mass Effect out the door so the next Dragon Age could utilize more resources, though this ultimately didn’t quite pan out.
“This was the first time where we had this leadership discontinuity, where the person in charge of a project left that project to help someone else, some other project, while the project continued to run,” Darrah explained. “In the cast of Mass Effect: Andromeda, I don’t think the impact to Dragon Age was huge. It wasn’t very long, but it did set this precedent as this being a thing that we could do, and it’s not a good thing to do. It is incredibly dangerous to have a project run while it’s missing some of its core leadership.”
Mass Effect: Andromeda launched in March 2017 and, in Darrah’s own words, “it doesn’t go well.” Throughout this time, BioWare was still adjusting to a structural change that saw the team reporting to new leadership at EA that was “hyper interested” in its projects and plans. He calls the change dramatic, noting that the studio’s new bosses weren’t interested in continuing work on Mass Effect due to its recently troubled launch. However, Darrah didn’t feel like Dragon Age was getting the support it needed even after Andromeda was shipped.
The former BioWare lead says he approached current EA CEO Andrew Wilson and former EA executive Patrick Söderlund with his concerns and was reassured of Dragon Age’s importance to the company. While EA offered few resources in an attempt to maintain the studio’s work in the summer of 2017, Darrah along with the rest of the BioWare staff were told that studio veteran Casey Hudson would be returning. It was a major shakeup that staff was made aware of without notice.
“You have to remember: I am the second most senior person at BioWare,” Darrah said. “Casey was interviewed, and hired, and prepared to be brought back entirely without me being consulted in any way. Would me have being involved in the process have changed the decision? No, I don’t think it would have, but there is an immense amount of disrespect involved in making a hire of this impact, in making a decision of this import, without involving the second-most senior person at your studio in any way.”
Darrah then predicted that BioWare would shift its focus to Anthem. When his concerns were shared with EA, he was told that leadership was committed to giving Dragon Age the attention it deserved.
“As we all know, that’s not what happened at all,” he added.
EA’s interest in Anthem ballooned until its similarly troubled launch in 2019, all while Darrah felt his trust in the company was being “constantly hammered” and “constantly challenged.” Resources were continuously pulled away from what would eventually be known as Dragon Age: The Veilguard all the way through 2019, leading to what Darrah says were “fundamental” changes to the nature of the project.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard would go on to release in late 2024 as BioWare’s latest AAA fantasy RPG. Despite positive reviews from critics (we gave it a 9/10 in our review), EA painted its launch as a letdown, saying in February that it failed to “resonate with a broad enough audience.” These were comments former BioWare developers later pushed back on, with some suggesting the company should follow the lead set up by Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios.
Many Dragon Age developers were laid off in January of this year as the studio shifted its focus back to Mass Effect 5.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
