The last two of the original three founders of the video game studio BioWare have announced their intention to retire from the company.
Dr. Greg Zeschuk and Dr. Ray Muzyka have picked an interesting time to announce their retirement. Dragon Age III: Inquisition‘s development was just revealed, and is speculated to release fall 2013. Additionally, Casey Hudson is planning to make further inroads into the Mass Effect series, possibly with an entirely new game.
For the time being, however, fans of BioWare will be mourning the loss of the two doctors, who were instrumental in developing such legendary titles as Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age among others.
In a statement to their fans, the two doctors highlighted the reasons for their decision to leave. Muzkya commented:
“After nearly two decades in video games, I’ve decided to move on to pursue an entirely different set of challenges,”
“This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make; after thinking about it for many months, I made the decision to retire from video games back in early April 2012 – at that time I provided six months’ notice to EA, to help enable a solid transition for my teams at BioWare.”
Greg Zeschuk similarly expressed his reasons for leaving, citing his diminished drive to continue in the industry, saying:
“I’ve reached an unexpected point in my life where I no longer have the passion that I once did for the company, for the games, and for the challenge of creation.”
“After my departure I’m going to be spending significant time with family and friends, as well as pursuing some personal passion-driven projects related to craft beer. The main project I will be working on is a web-based interview show called The Beer Diaries where I interview notable brewers and showcase their beers. If things go well, I’ll work on other beer-related shows, apps and projects.”
Although some may be wondering if they were jumping before being pushed out by EA, Muzkya was quick to rebut any suggestion of discontent between the two.
“The past five+ years at EA have been very good for me personally. I’ve learned a lot about navigating successfully within a larger publicly traded company, working with – and continually being inspired by – a large, passionate team across many locations”.
“My teams and I have benefited tremendously from the mentorship, wisdom and continuous strong support of EA’s leadership team”.
The duo’s decision to leave is certainly the end of an era, though Zeschuk was quick to assure the BioWare fan base that the future is still bright despite their choice to step aside.
“From what I’ve seen over the past few months, I can attest that the best is yet to come; my teams at all of BioWare’s studios have many more fantastic products on the horizon for our great community of fans.”
One of the men who might be hoping to fill the giant shoes left behind is Casey Hudson, who revealed that the Mass Effect series is far from over after the culmination of the trilogy.
“Executive Producer Casey Hudson and his team are coming off an amazing eight-year run with the Mass Effect trilogy. But they’re not done yet.”
“We are releasing more multiplayer content and we have more single-player stories coming throughout the next six months, including Omega which is coming in the Fall. But the Mass Effect universe is vast, and Casey and our teams have plans for another full game. “Where to go next?””
Although the good doctors respected retirements have raised speculation regarding BioWare‘s future, the list of planned projects certainly gives cause for optimism. Despite all the highs that the departing founders guided them too, perhaps BioWare‘s brightest days are still in front of them.
For any well wishers, the two doctors are available on twitter.
Source: Destructoid, NeoGaf