Karpyshyn leaves Bioware

**Tankfriend** · February 17, 2012, 08:07 AM

I figured this would warrant a separate thread, because we're not talking about a single game or series from Bioware being affected, here, but the writing department of Bioware as a whole and, thus, the stories told by all their games coming out in the future.
Karpyshyn has worked with Bioware for twelve years now, and he was pretty much part of the teams of all the major and highliest-regarded games/series released by Bioware since Baldur's Gate II up to the newest The Old Republic, with Dragon Age being the only real exception. And now, he's leaving for good and Bioware has to find a new Lead Writer.

February 15

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Drew Karpyshyn
Next update February 29
I promised big news for this update, so I better deliver. But like the showman I am I’ll save it until the very end.
First, I’m going to hit you with the link for Mass Effect 3′s cool new demo. As many of you probably know, I wasn’t on the ME3 team – I’ve been working on SWTOR for the past three years. In fact, I left midway through ME2, turning the reins over to my co-lead Mac Walters. So for the first time I’m getting to approach the ME franchise as a fan, rather than a developer. Kind of a neat feeling.
Next, I’m going to lay out some more details for my upcoming convention schedule. I’ve already mentioned that I’ll be appearing at Celebration VI in Orlando this August; we’re still working on what panels and appearances I’ll be doing. I’m also going to be appearing at A-Kon in Dallas, June 1-3 – should have more details soon. And I’ve got a couple other appearances in the works; hopefully I can share the details next update.
You might think I’m doing more events and cons this year than usual, and you’d be right. (You’re so smart. You know, if you thought that.) So why am I doing so many cons and events this year? Well, I finally have the time in my schedule… which brings me to my BIG NEWS.
I just got back from Vegas. Now, I don’t really need an excuse to go to Vegas, but this time I had a good reason. You see, I was celebrating a major life milestone. As of last week, I have officially retired from BioWare. (I’ll give all you gamers a second to let that sink in. Just to be clear, the parting was completely amicable, and 100% my decision.)
For the past twelve years I’ve had the privilege to work at one of the best companies in the video game industry, side by side with the most talented and incredible group of people I’ve ever had the good fortune to know. I’ve enjoyed my time at BioWare immensely, but it’s time for me to move on.
I’m leaving to focus more time and energy on my novels and other non-video game related projects. But even though I’ll no longer be working on games for BioWare, I’m not going to be severing all ties with them. Many of my closest friends still work at the company, and I’m also in the process of writing the next Star Wars: The Old Republic novel, though I can’t say too much about it yet.
During my time at BioWare I worked on a number of beloved and award winning titles. I’m proud of everything we accomplished, and I know going forward that BioWare will continue to live up to its well deserved reputation for making the best story driven games in the industry. The story and dialog in any BioWare game is the result of an entire team of writers working together, and I often felt I received an excessive amount of the credit for the games we created. The Dragon Age games and the continued success of the Mass Effect series after my departure make it pretty clear that BioWare can get along just fine without me, and I’m looking forward to experiencing the games as a fan rather than from the other side of the fence. (I alluded to this earlier when I was talking about ME3. That’s a little writer’s trick called foreshadowing.)
I realize some of you may be shocked by this announcement. Maybe even disappointed. (And others simply won’t care. But it’s my website, so I’m going to ramble on.) My identity has been closely tied with BioWare ever since I crawled into the public eye, and I know it’s a risk to move away from my comfort zone. However, I feel that’s an essential step for every creative artist to take at some point. It keeps us fresh, it keeps us energized.
Even if you are someone who is going to miss my contributions to the video game world, I hope you’ll be somewhat mollified by the fact that I’m going to have more time for novels, screenplays and other projects. (Like finally finishing Children of Fire, the first novel in my original fantasy series, which I’ve been perpetually working on for almost a decade.)
I’ll always have fond memories of BioWare, and a great appreciation for everything it meant to me. But my future is wide open, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store. (Plus, now I’ll have more time for golf.)
Drew

http://drewkarpyshyn.com/c/?p=369#more-369

So, what are your thoughts on this? Might this be a chance for Bioware to reorient themselves? Is it just another sign of Biowares decline after the EA-takeover? Will everything remain the same as before?

If you ask me, I doubt we will see any meaningful change. He might have been the Lead Writer, true, but as he put it himself, he's not the only writer at Bioware, and most definitely is not doing all the work by himself, nor entirely based on his own opinion and decision. It might be the general story arcs might change a little bit in the details or style here or there, but that's probably all. If we're actually going to notice the changes, at all. Also, as he puts it himself, he obviously has his connections in Bioware, so although he might not actually work on any projects for them, anymore, he'll probably still have a certain level of advisory influence through that.

**Sanguinary Guardian** · February 17, 2012, 08:19 AM

Honestly, I don't care. ME3 will probably be the last Bioware game I will ever play. DA2 was my breaking point. I love KoTOR, I love NWN, I love ME1,2 and I love DA:O. But, DA2 is apparently the way they want to go, so I am not going to fund their decline any further.

**florin87** · February 17, 2012, 08:45 AM

well maybe they'll finally stop retelling the same story over and over again.

**Tankfriend** · February 17, 2012, 08:49 AM

You mean something like this? Yes, it is pretty surprising how similar the stories are between the games. The problem is that pretty much every other major title tends to suffer from the exact same problems.

LARGE picture, possible story spoilers

**PGeo36** · February 17, 2012, 10:09 AM

Meh it's just the style of game they make. Take a Bethesda RPG and at their core they're pretty much all the same. Lone wolf, open world, main quests take a backseat to side quests, type of gameplay. Who cares if they're similar as long as they're well made.

**Inhuman One** · February 17, 2012, 02:36 PM

First the lead developer, now the lead writer. And I gues they arent the only ones..

We shouldnt be surprised though, its common for many talented people to leave a company once EA takes over.

**Tyrone** · February 17, 2012, 09:57 PM

Well this sucks. It seems I was being too optimistic when I heard EA was taking over Bioware.

**Inhuman One** · February 18, 2012, 03:24 AM

Is there really any reason to be optimistic about EA taking over any company?

**Tankfriend** · February 18, 2012, 04:09 AM

Teh moneh, I guess. The sad part is that it works both ways in that EA can provide one of the largest ressource pools in game development, but they'll logically ask for more in return, too.

**florin87** · February 18, 2012, 07:05 AM

Originally Posted by PGeo36

Meh it's just the style of game they make. Take a Bethesda RPG and at their core they're pretty much all the same. Lone wolf, open world, main quests take a backseat to side quests, type of gameplay. Who cares if they're similar as long as they're well made.

nope. bioware's style of game is travel to "x" places with "y" number of companions in any order you wish, period. from that point on the story takes over.
and bethesda does work to bring variety to its stories. compare the story in morrowind with the one in oblivion. you wont find that many similarities.

**Tyrone** · February 18, 2012, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by Inhuman One

Is there really any reason to be optimistic about EA taking over any company?

I was just hoping Bioware wouldn't end up sucking dick. I was wrong.

**Inhuman One** · February 18, 2012, 05:03 PM

Well it could rather ironically be compared to Mass Effect's Saren's relation with Sovereign.

Sovereign offers Saren unlimited resources and knowledge, Saren thinks he can controll it, but turns into Sovereign's little drone in the end.

Almost like Bioware predicted their own story that way.

**Tankfriend** · February 18, 2012, 05:10 PM

Too bad that the community most likely won't be the Shepard to the story.

**ggggtotalwarrior** · February 18, 2012, 06:24 PM

horrible. I was a hughe Karpyshyn fan, loved KoTOR, his Darth Bane trilogy and the first two Mass Effects, but then EA took over, raped the new Mass Effect book, forced an MMO instead of a KoTOR 3, then had Karpyshyn DESTROY Revan in his new book, just to set up the extremely costly MMO. It's truly a shame that the company has fallen apart this much in so little time. Damn you EA!

**Gaidin** · February 18, 2012, 07:36 PM

You guys do realize that if he's as good a writer as you guys think he is this is a GOOD thing right? Right?! It means he gets to work on his own projects instead of someone else's brainchild.