Dragon Age: Veilguard director Corinne Busche is reportedly leaving EA-owned BioWare.
Eurogamer reported that Busche, who was director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard from February 2022 until its release last year, is expected to leave the studio in the coming weeks. IGN has reached out to EA for comment.
Since its release last October, questions have been raised about the success of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Eurogamer reported that although Busche is leaving the studio, he is unaffected by other changes.
Busche joined BioWare in 2019 after working at Maxis, where she helped design systems for various The Sims projects. In an IGN article titled “How BioWare Finally Brought Dragon Age to the Finish Line After a Tumultuous Decade,” we detailed the game’s nearly decade-long development, which included a major reset that saw it move away from its multiplayer framework with its repetitive quests, technology base, and story arc, to a full-scale single-player RPG game. Busche, as director, helped bring Dragon Age: The Veilguard to completion over the last few years of development.
Eurogamer reports that Busche’s departure from BioWare is unrelated to the commercial performance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. EA has not yet said whether sales and revenue met or exceeded expectations. The company is expected to release third-quarter 2025 financial results on February 4.
Meanwhile, BioWare has confirmed that it has no plans for Dragon Age: The Veilguard DLC. Rather, it focused on Mass Effect 5, which the studio has teased at various points over the years but has yet to reveal.
In August 2023, coincidentally the same month that Larian’s all-conquering Dungeons & Dragons RPG, Baldur’s Gate 3, was released. BioWare fired about 50 employeesincluding long-time veterans like narrative designer Mary Kirby, who has worked at BioWare since Dragon Age’s inception.
At a higher level, the layoffs came as a result of internal upheaval at EA that effectively split the company into sports and everything else. This summer, rumors spread throughout BioWare that it would soon be acquired. Star Wars: The Old Republic could have gone to page threeostensibly so that BioWare could focus on Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
BioWare’s rollercoaster continued until Dragon Age launched in 2024. Reactions to the game’s first announcement trailer were negative, causing the studio to bend over backwards to release an early gameplay trailer just a few days later to reassure fans. The name change from Dreadwolf to The Veilguard was also not well received. Afterwards, however, the impressions were generally positive.
Dragon Age fans are now wondering if BioWare will get the chance to continue The Veilguard and release another Dragon Age sequel?
Wesley is the UK news editor at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wy100@proton.me.
