In the past few days, EA-owned game developer BioWare has seen two key figures leave the company. On Aug. 15, Anthem lead producer Ben Irving announced on Twitter he was leaving after eight years with the company. He is moving on to another, undisclosed game project.
Two days later, Dragon Age 4 lead producer Fernando Melo also announced the end of his days at BioWare. Like Irving, Melo is leaving on his own terms and on a positive note.
(1/4) Today was my last day at BioWare. After 12 years.. that's a heck of a lot of feels. 🙂
Tonight I got to write my name up at our local pub, alongside many other amazing peers over the years, and it reminded me of a lot of folks no longer here that I miss dearly. pic.twitter.com/MFQELPM2jr
— Fernando Melo (@DiscoBabaloo) August 17, 2019
Melo and Irving’s exits share a lot of similarities. Both are leaving BioWare on amicable terms. Both also appear to already have other projects lined up. At this point we don’t know what their future plans are, but Irving’s tweet indicates he has accepted a position at another game development company. Whether Melo’s plans will keep him in the industry remains to be seen.
BioWare has not announced how they will fill the gaps in Anthem’s and Dragon Age 4‘s development rosters after these departures. Anthem just launched Cataclysm, its biggest in-game event to date.
Slayback leaves Respawn
It’s worth noting that BioWare is not the only EA property to have lost key staff recently. Apex Legends principal weapons designer Sean Slayback quietly parted ways with Respawn last month too. Slayback is the creative mind behind the military hardware in multiple Call of Duty titles, as well as both Titanfall games.
He is now a member of the brand new game development studio The Initiative. The studio was established by Microsoft last year and has no publicly announced projects as of yet. Animation director Ryan Duffin also joined The Initiative’s ranks after leaving BioWare in June, coincidentally. We expect we will get more news coming out of them in the coming months.
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