Dragon Age series has lost two executive producers in 3 years

Dragon Age executive producer Christian Dailey has left BioWare, marking the second producer to recently leave the series.

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BioWare has lost another major developer with the departure of Christian Dailey, who departed right in the middle of Dragon Age 4's production. Dailey was brought in after the previous Dragon Age executive producer, Mark Darrah, left the company after 23 years with BioWare.

"Hi friends. I wanted to pass on the news that I am leaving BioWare. The next Dragon Age is in great hands. Looking forward to cheering on the team and playing as a fan. Thank you BioWare Electronic Arts (EA) for the amazing adventure," Dailey said in a statement.

BioWare GM Gary McKay says the franchise has "strong leadership" and confirmed the following roles:

• Production Director is Mac Walters, who recently led the development for Mass Effect Legendary Edition and has an 18-year history with BioWare.
• Corrine Busche, who has been leading the design direction for Dragon Age, is our Game Director. She has a wealth of experience, including 15 years at EA, and a passion for the franchise. Benoit Houle is the Director of Product Development, and he brings an in-depth understanding of the franchise thanks to having worked on every single Dragon Age game - starting over 16 years ago on Dragon Age: Origins.

By our accounts, Dailey is the 13th noteworthy BioWare departure since 2016. It's believed BioWare's internal problems (crunch, scope creep, bad management) contributed to each developer's departure as well as conflicts with Dragon Age and Mass Effect's development.

The latest Dragon Age game has been rebooted three times now; the first time it was a smaller-scale game centered around Tevinter spies, and then it morphed into a live game. Now it's a singleplayer-driven RPG.

Here's a list of the major BioWare departures over recent years:

Noteworthy BioWare Departures

• Drew Karpyshyn, lead writer on Mass Effect and Anthem, left in 2012, and then again in 2018
• David Gaider, lead writer of Dragon Age series, left in 2016
• Chris Schlerf, writer on Mass Effect: Andromeda, left in 2016
• Ian Frazier, Lead Designer of Mass Effect: Andromeda, shifted from BioWare to EA Motive in 2017
• Aaron Flynn, ex-General Manager, left in July 2017, shortly after Mass Effect: Andromeda's launch and after 17 years with BioWare (replaced by Casey Hudson, who previously had left in 2014)
• Mike Laidlaw, ex-Dragon Age creative director, left in October 2017 after 14 years with BioWare
• James Ohlen, lead designer on Baldur's Gate, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age: Origins, leaves BioWare in July 2018 after 22 years
• Ben Irving, lead producer on Anthem, left August 2019 after 8 years with the company
• Fernando Melo, producer on Mass Effect Andromeda, Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, senior producer on Dragon Age 4, left August 2019 after 12 years with company
• Mark Darrah, executive producer on Dragon Age, Anthem, Mass Effect Andromeda, left BioWare in 2020 after 23 years with the company
• Casey Hudson, general manager, rejoined BioWare in 2017 to lead as GM and left in 2020, spent nearly 20 years with the studio
• Jonathan Warner, Chief of staff, director on Anthem and producer on Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, Mass Effect trilogy, left BioWare in March 2021 after nearly 10 years with the studio
• Christian Dailey, ex-Dragon Age executive producer left in February 2022 after 4 years with the company.