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David Gaider, once a leading writer at BioWare and the creative mind behind Dragon Age, revealed some insights into the dynamic between BioWare’s major project teams. According to Gaider, these groups weren’t exactly on friendly terms.
In a candid discussion on BlueSky, Gaider shared that the underlying issues became glaringly obvious when members from Dragon Age and Mass Effect were combined to tackle the challenges faced by Anthem.
“BioWare operated for a long time as if it had two teams under one roof,” Gaider explained. “The Dragon Age team and the Mass Effect team ran like distinct entities, each with its own culture. It was almost like they were two separate studios, and they didn’t really hit it off.”
He also noted that while the company had long been aware of this friction and tried to bridge the gap by frequently rotating staff between these teams, these efforts didn’t truly mend the divide. Gaider wasn’t fully aware of the extent of this discord until he joined the crew working on Anthem, then known as ‘Dylan,’ where he wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms.
Miscommunication plagued both teams, particularly regarding the game’s stylistic approach. “Dylan started out with a ‘beer & cigarettes’ kind of gritty sci-fi vibe, akin to Aliens, and I was tasked with shifting it to more of a science fantasy feel, similar to Star Wars,” he said. “But it seems nobody relayed this to the team, so they assumed the change was my doing.”
Frequently, his contributions or suggestions were met with comments that they were “too Dragon Age,” which carried the implication that anything resembling Dragon Age was undesirable. Despite this, Gaider had to adapt continuously as he was obliged to consider and act upon all feedback he received.
The development of Anthem, which launched in 2019, seemed to have been marred by these internal conflicts and communication failures. The game was eventually discontinued in 2021, reflecting the tumultuous journey it had undergone.
