BioWare - Casey Hudson Departs

Couchpotato · August 8, 2014

It seems Casey Hudson has left Bioware according to new post on the Bioware Blog.

After nearly 16 years of game development at BioWare, Executive Producer Casey Hudson has made the decision to move on from BioWare and enter a new stage of his career. We thank Casey for his hard work and dedication as we look back on his time with BioWare.

Starting as a Technical Artist on Neverwinter Nights and MDK2, Casey moved into the Project Director role with 2003’s Game of the Year Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. He then led the team in the development of the Mass Effect trilogy, an award-winning series that I and many others consider to be one of the most important science-fiction universes of our generation. Casey’s focus on production quality, digital acting technology, and emotionally engaging narrative has made a substantial impact on BioWare and the video game industry as a whole.

More information.

Aberdash · August 8, 2014

And of course he is best known for nearly ruining a series many loved.

DArtagnan · August 8, 2014

Yet another: "I just left the most wonderful and magical place in the world, like so many others. Everything we're doing is more or less perfection. It was simply too good to stick around." PR piece.

Oh well, I hope he finds himself at a place where he's happy.

Aubrielle · August 8, 2014

Finally....some great news to start off the day.

mercy · August 8, 2014

Good riddance!

fungus · August 8, 2014

I would really want to be able to say anything else than 'good riddance', but... good riddance!
Best news about Mass Effect 4 I've heard in a while

azarhal · August 8, 2014

fungus said:
I would really want to be able to say anything else than 'good riddance', but… good riddance!
Best news about Mass Effect 4 I've heard in a while

He wasn't working on ME4 anyway. He was designing the new IP ever since ME3 ended. Which is actually good news for the new IP I guess.

I am also in the "good riddance" group. I never felt like Casey was interested in making RPGs.

joxer · August 8, 2014

Guys get real. With him at least we knew where we are and what we get.
Now we can't be sure even worse person takes his seat and there is a chance he gets a job at Bethesda, Eidos Montreal or elsewhere and kills another franchise.

One thing is sure. He directed bestsellers and EA won't like his departure.

EDarkness · August 8, 2014

Wonder what this means for the Mass Effect series. Perhaps they'll do a few retcons.

azarhal · August 8, 2014

EDarkness said:
Wonder what this means for the Mass Effect series. Perhaps they'll do a few retcons.

Like I said, he wasn't working on ME4. When ME3 ended he went on creating a new IP for BioWare.

Caidh · August 8, 2014

I may not have really liked ME3 - but I still wish him well. He was involved with some great games. I personally cannot blame him for ME3's story, and I'm sure it was EA more than just him who moved the game into more of a shooter.

Best wishes to him in whatever is next.

fungus · August 8, 2014

joxer said:
Guys get real. With him at least we knew where we are and what we get.
Now we can't be sure even worse person takes his seat and there is a chance he gets a job at Bethesda, Eidos Montreal or elsewhere and kills another franchise.

One thing is sure. He directed bestsellers and EA won't like his departure.

azarhal said:
Like I said, he wasn't working on ME4. When ME3 ended he went on creating a new IP for BioWare.

I felt that with him on board the screw-up chance was always high - even if he was not involved, he had enough pull to cause trouble.

JDR13 · August 8, 2014

Judging from this thread, I'd say he was solely responsible for everything Bioware has done lately.

ChaosTheory · August 8, 2014

Yikes. Huge blow to BioWare, whether you like his games or not. Wonder what happened. "New stage of his career" from Executive Producer? I don't think there is another stage, other than retired.

HiddenX · August 8, 2014

He could hire at Larian as a junior designer and finally learn how to make good games…

Fluffyhotep · August 8, 2014

I never cared much for Mass Effect, but he IS another Old Guard guy leaving.
Moreover, given the size of the teams at Bio I doubt anyone can lay all of the blame on him for the various disappointments with, and flaws in, the games he worked on.

Maybe he'll flourish away from the EA corporate culture, who knows.

And Gods no, don't send him to Larian! :-/

I know there are some Dutch (and maybe also some Flemish?) devs at CDProjekt. Let them go to Larian in the fullness of time…

rjshae · August 8, 2014

I'm not sure whether or not the blame for the ME story is to be laid at his doorstep, and I've only played ME2 so I can't speak for the other games in the series. But the areas in which he listed as his focus seemed pretty up to snuff, in ME2 at least. Good luck to him in his future career.

Maylander · August 8, 2014

As far as we can tell, the rather poor ending of ME3 was mainly his fault. However, he's been there for 16 years, so he's been part of many amazing projects as well. He has no doubt contributed to games that are on my top 10 list even now, so I wish him the best of luck.

Ashbery76 · August 8, 2014

Tough crowd.The guy was heavily involved in 2 of the greatest RPG experiences ever.It was obvious EA suits stuck their own agenda into ME3.

Gorath · August 8, 2014

ChaosTheory said:
Yikes. Huge blow to BioWare, whether you like his games or not. Wonder what happened. "New stage of his career" from Executive Producer? I don't think there is another stage, other than retired.

There is: Fund a new studio, produce a few hits with publisher money, then sell the studio to that publisher, stay 2 years, repeat.

BioWare - Casey Hudson Departs

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