Former BioWare developer reveals feud between Mass Effect and Dragon Age teams

David Gaider, former writer for Dragon Age up until after Inquisition's release, has revealed that the teams working on Dragon Age and Mass Effect under BioWare weren't the best of friends, at least while he was at the company.

"You see, the thing you need to know about BioWare is that for a long time it was basically two teams under one roof: the Dragon Age team and the Mass Effect team," Gaider explained in a lengthy series of posts on Bluesky explaining his decision to leave BioWare. "And they didn't get along. The company was aware of the friction and attempts to fix it had been ongoing for years, mainly by shuffling staff between the teams more often."

Following some fatigue after the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition, Gaider was moved over to the team working on Project Dylan, what would become Anthem, when he was tasked with changing the feel of the sci-fi universe to have more of a fantasy inclination.

In a response to a comment, Gaider also explained that there was even some preferential treatment between the Mass Effect and Dragon Age teams. "EA *always* preferred Mass Effect, straight up," he wrote. "Their Marketing team liked it more. It was modern. It had action. They never quite knew what to do with DA, and whenever DA outperformed ME, ME got the excuses. If you ask me, it was always just shy of the axe since DA Origins."

Dragon Age fans probably won't be happy to hear that last part, especially since Dragon Age: The Veilguard didn't live up to EA's expectations. It has been a long time since Gaider worked at BioWare, though, so perhaps the two teams have learned to kiss and make up since.