BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk announce retirement – hints at next games and new ME3 DLC

Today, BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have announced they are retiring from BioWare.

Both have written blogs to discuss their retirement – click here for Ray’s and click here for Greg’s. Please join us in wishing them all the best in the future.

Ray had this to say about his time at the company:

• “The decision to leave the video game industry is hard to explain, but essentially I feel similar now to how I felt in the early days of BioWare over the decade post-medical school, while I was still practicing as an ER physician, back when I first realized that the world of video games was my next career ‘chapter’. Two wonderful decades working at BioWare and later EA was the result of that decision. It’s not often that you can truly say you were able to pursue and achieve your dream job; I know how lucky I am to be able to say that now, in my early 40s.”

Greg’s sentiments were similar in nature:

• “At BioWare we’ve always valued the effort of the team, as well as the herculean efforts of passionate individuals. I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best people in the games business; some of them are well known, and some are not. What every single one of them does is commit himself or herself fully to the act of doing great work, whatever it is, and then stubbornly pursues the goal until it is achieved. The amazing thing about working at BioWare is that everyone does this; it is part of the culture we helped foster and grow. BioWare’s foundation in its Core Values, passion and professionalism remains in the very fiber of the company. One thing I’m confident of is that we’ve built a great team that will continue to succeed long after I’m gone. The thing I’m most proud of is the success of people that we’ve help grow over the years; I hope all of them exceed anything I’ve ever done and eclipse our achievements. I have full confidence in the current leadership team guiding BioWare to continued future success.”

While we can’t help but wonder at the timing of the announcement, we wish both men the best in their future endeavors. The general manager of BioWare, Aaron Flynn, assured fans in his own blog post that the company will continue it’s tradition of great games:

• “Ray and Greg built BioWare to last. They’ve always known their retirement would come one day, so they developed a team of people who would ensure their standards and culture would endure. We’ll humbly carry that torch and continue learning in the process.”

Which, as luck would have it, means another new IP and more Mass Effect games from BioWare:

• “Both Dragon Age and Mass Effect started as single games but grew into vast universes. But we aren’t stopping there. While Casey continues to oversee the development of our new Mass Effect project, he and his leads are putting together their vision for an all new game set in a fictional universe, built from the bottom-up with all new gaming technology.”

• Executive Producer Casey Hudson and his team are coming off an amazing eight-year run with the Mass Effect trilogy. But they’re not done yet. We are releasing more multiplayer content and we have more single-player stories coming throughout the next six months, including Omega which is coming in the Fall. But the Mass Effect universe is vast, and Casey and our teams have plans for another full game. “Where to go next?” with such a project has been a question a lot of us have been asking, and we’d all love to hear your ideas.”

I can’t say I’m surprised at the news of more Mass Effect games, but I’m excited to see how BioWare manages to move forward after such a conclusive ending for ME3. My assumption is that the next Mass Effect game will be next-generation.

The news piece also confirms “Omega” as the next single-player DLC coming this fall, which is the first time the DLC has been properly named.

A new cast of characters (or a focus on already introduced crew) is definitely in the cards, but, without Shephard, will the series continue to be as excellent as it’s been? Time will tell.

Until then – happy trails gentleman, and thanks for some of the greatest games of our generation.