Dragon Age News Thread

I promise nothing

Thank You For Everything
by Author - BioWarePosted on - July 18, 2017

From Aaryn Flynn, General Manager of BioWare

After 17 years with BioWare, today I announced that I’ll be leaving the studio at the end of July, and that Casey Hudson is returning to Edmonton to take on the role of General Manager for BioWare.

I joined BioWare in Edmonton right out of University. I was privileged to get a chance to join a group of people working on the coolest, most creative things I could imagine. Growing up at BioWare, the events in my life are intimately intertwined with events at the studio. I got married just after we finished Neverwinter Nights. My first son was born while we were wrapping up Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, while my second son was born right after Jade Empire.

From my first day until now, I have learned much, met great colleagues and friends, and got the chance to help give players some truly incredible experiences. Every time I think I’ve found a favourite game making experience, we start something new and somehow find fun and satisfaction in the new challenges.

I have been contemplating changes in my own life for some time, but when I heard that Casey had confirmed he was up for the task, I realized the opportunities before us. I will be working with him 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.

In closing, let me thank our players for everything they’ve given us over these many years, and to say from the bottom of my heart how important you are to me and the rest of BioWare. I have gone to work every day knowing that I am fortunate to have all of the opportunities I have had at BioWare because of you. Doing whatever I could to help our developers create some of the best games in the industry for you all has been the most humbling experience of my life. Now, I’ll be playing BioWare’s games in the future from an exciting new perspective – yours 😊

Aaryn

Depends on whether Casey wants to micromanage what Mark Darrah and Mike Laidlaw are doing. Truth be told, I'm not sure I trust Casey's judgement all that much since he seems to have direct culpability in thinking the ME3 ending was a good idea.

Still, my bet is that he'll let them do their own thing. As general manager I don't think he's actually that involved in the specific directions of individual games as much as the project leads are.

Honestly, I don't really see this impacting DA much. He'll be the GM of BioWare as a whole, while DA is spearheaded by Mark, Mike, James, and the DA Leads.

Patrick Weekes @patrickweekes
Good to have you back, @caseydhudson!

David Gaider‏ @davidgaider
All the best, Aaryn. Thinking of BioWare without you will be difficult.

James Ohlen (Game Director).

Yeah, he's not big on Twitter, I think his last tweet was... last year. And he seems to be more involved in SW, though Mike & Mark have mentioned his name being involved (somehow) in DA.

Casey Hudson‏ @caseydhudson
Excited to be back at #BioWare leading the studio as General Manager! Amazing things in development here!

pbs.twimg.com/media/DFCWR1FV0AAfoXF.jpg

Casey Hudson‏ @caseydhudson
Hope everyone shares best wishes today with Aaryn Flynn, who is moving on after an amazing career at #BioWare

This sucks. We're losing a great dev and getting back a meh dev.

Well, we know about ONE project.

Projects, plural, feels me with hope.