BioWare's Mass Effect project has some big names back onboard

News by Alex Calvin Contributor

Published on Dec. 16, 2020

BioWare has brought back some key Mass Effect developers, following the recent loss of some top talent.

Several Mass Effect veterans are currently working on the latest entry in BioWare's sci-fi RPG franchise.

In a series of Tweets (spotted by Game Informer), project director Michael Gamble confirmed that a number of big names have returned to work on the upcoming game, including Dusty Everman, Parish Ley, Brenon Holmes, and Derek Watts.

Everman returned to BioWare in October, having previously worked at the studio between 2003 and 2015 in level design roles, before leaving to set up and run his own indie studio, Dirty Sky Games. He is working as principal narrative designer.

Creative director Parish Ley is a 14-plus-year veteran of BioWare who was the cinematic director for the original Mass Effect trilogy and now holds a creative director role as of January 2020. Meanwhile, producer Brenon Holmes comes to this Mass Effect project having worked on Anthem since October 2014.

Finally, Derek Watts has been brought on board as art director, a role he has held since working on the original Mass Effect.

This follows news that a number of top staff were leaving BioWare, including general manager Casey Hudson, and Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah.

The end of 2020 has certainly been a good time for anyone interested in Mass Effect. A new entry in the series was teased at Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards event last week. The title is apparently in the early stages of production, with BioWare saying they were "looking forward" to sharing more info in the future.

Before that reveal, the studio announced Mass Effect Legendary Edition on N7 Day – or November 7 to those who aren't fans of the series. This is a remastered collection of the first three entries in the series that has long been rumoured and is set for a spring 2021 release for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

BioWare is also working on Dragon Age 4 and showed off the project at this year's The Game Awards, too.