Drew Karpyshyn, who worked on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Anthem, is once again leaving Bioware. This is now the second time Drew Karpyshyn has left the company. He stated that his goal is to pursue “more original novels, an original sci-fi graphic novel [he’s] co-creating, and freelance gaming work.”
Some follks were worried about the future of games like SWTOR and Anthem with the departure of Karpyshyn. But sensing unease, Casey Hudson, general manager of Bioware, took to Twitter to clarify that this was not the case. When asked if the departure of Karpyshyn would negatively impact the story elements of Anthem, he responded, “Story will always be an important part of every BioWare game.”
According to Hudson, Karpyshyn’s departure was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. His work was completed and he was not abandoning Anthem, but instead was leaving the remaining story work to the teams at BioWare to finish up.
Karpyshyn joins multiple others who have also left the company such as general manager Aaryn Flynn and Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider. It remains to be seen how these departures ultimately affect BioWare, but time will eventually tell.
This all means that while Anthem fans will probably be a little disappointed not to have such a talented writer on staff, hopefully Karpyshyn succeeds in his endeavors. I’d also hold out hope that this doesn’t mean more high-profile departures from Bioware.
