BioWare's Internal Team Rivalry: Former Dragon Age Writer Reveals Studio Tensions

David Gaider, who spent 17 years as a lead writer at BioWare, recently shared insights about the tense relationship between the studio's Dragon Age and Mass Effect teams. According to his posts on BlueSky, these teams operated under one roof but functioned almost like separate studios.

"For a long time it was basically two teams under one roof: the Dragon Age team and the Mass Effect team," Gaider wrote. "Run differently, very different cultures, may as well have been two separate studios. And they didn't get along."

This internal friction became painfully clear to Gaider when he transferred from Dragon Age to work on what would eventually become Anthem. Despite BioWare management's efforts to address the tension by moving staff between teams, the underlying issues persisted.

Gaider explained that when he joined the Anthem team (then code-named "Dylan"), he faced immediate resistance. Management had instructed him to transform the project from a "beer & cigarettes" hard sci-fi setting similar to Aliens into something more like "science fantasy" in the vein of Star Wars. However, the team apparently wasn't informed about this directive from higher-ups.

"The team didn't want me there. At all," Gaider revealed. "I kept getting feedback about how it was 'too Dragon Age' and how everything I wrote or planned was 'too Dragon Age'... the implication being that anything like Dragon Age was bad."

The situation grew increasingly frustrating as Gaider realized the Anthem team "didn't want to make an RPG" yet expected him to "wave my magic writing wand and create a BioWare-quality story" without the necessary tools or support.

Seeing no path forward, Gaider approached management about the possibility of becoming a Creative Director on a future project after completing his work on Anthem. When this request was flatly rejected, he decided to leave BioWare altogether in 2016.

The departure wasn't easy. Gaider admitted he experienced "literally having a nervous breakdown" after leaving, questioning his decision to give up what many would consider a stable position at an established studio. "How was a writer, of all things, with no real interest in business supposed to start his own studio? It felt apocalyptic," he wrote.

Despite these initial fears, Gaider went on to co-found Summerfall Studios, where he now serves as creative director. The indie studio has already released "Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical" in 2023 to positive reviews and is currently working on "Malys," described as a "demonic deckbuilder."

Meanwhile, BioWare continued development on Anthem, which ultimately launched to poor reception. The studio has since released Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, though the latter reportedly had disappointing sales despite good reviews. According to reports, a streamlined BioWare is now focused exclusively on developing the next Mass Effect game, which was first announced in December 2020 but still has no release date.