Every writer credited as being a part of the main writing team on Dragon Age: The Veilguard no longer appears to be working at BioWare, with a number of departures at various points in the past having been added to by the studio’s latest restructuring.
Following the downsizing announced yesterday in a blog post penned by BioWare general manager Gary McKay, Veilguard writing lead Patrick Weekes posted on BlueSky that he’s “now looking for a new writing/narrative position” as his 20 years at the studio have come to an end.
On top of this, fellow writer Brianne Battye revealed that she’s among those who’ve moved from BioWare to Motive Studio as part of the rectructuring, with Sheryl Chee seemingly being in the same boat.
Taking a look at the game’s credits as listed on MobyGames and IMDB, you’ll find those two names listed as part of Veilguard’s main writing design team, alongside a number of others.
I was a writer at BioWare for 5 years (2011-2016). I leaned a lot during that time from exceptional folx in many disciplines, but also specifically from my fellow writers & our amazing editors, on both the ME & DA brands.
Today, not a single one of those writers & editors remains employed there.— Ann Lemay 🧂 (@annlemay.bsky.social) 29 January 2025 at 23:38
Of those others, however, Sylvia Feketekuty announced that she was departing BioWare last month after 15 years, Courtney Woods left the studio to join Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch in 2022, with John Dombrow having made a move to the same studio as Woods about a year later, in 2023. Meanwhile, both Mary Kirby and Lukas Kristjanson look to have been let go from BioWare in August 2023. Finally, Jo Berry is listed in MobyGames’ credits for Veilguard, and according to her Linkedin page left BioWare for a writing position at Motive in 2017.
That’s nine writers, unless the most recent departures end up being brought back in some capacity, on the latest Dragon Age game no longer working for BioWare, at least on a full-time basis. Veilguard game director Corrine Busche also revealed earlier this month that she’s leaving BioWare to work on a new RPG elsewhere.
Given that, despite what idiots on the internet might say, Veilguard was far from an unmitagated disaster of a game, even if it didn’t hit the potentially overzealous targets EA set for it financially, it’ll be sad if indeed the entire writing team behind it – aside perhaps from some localisers who’re listed as part of other teams – have indeed either been shown the door or departed the studio on their own terms. Especially since many were long-time Dragon Age series stalwarts who’d also worked on previous entries in the series.
The games industry in 2025, definitely a healthy place to work without the constant shadow of potential turnover or just being chucked into the sun by some corporately-mandated “restructuring”.
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