Drew Karpyshyn promised big news on his weekly blog updatetoday but we had no idea how big this news would be. He has now announced thathe will be leaving BioWare after 12 years of working together. He notes thatthe decision was 100% his and that he is leaving BioWare on good terms.
Drew writes:
Forthe past twelve years I’ve had the privilege to work at one of the bestcompanies in the video game industry, side by side with the most talented andincredible group of people I’ve ever had the good fortune to know. I’ve enjoyedmy time at BioWare immensely, but it’s time for me to move on.
I’mleaving to focus more time and energy on my novels and other non-video gamerelated projects. But even though I’ll no longer be working on games forBioWare, I’m not going to be severing all ties with them. Many of my closestfriends still work at the company, and I’m also in the process of writing thenext Star Wars: The Old Republic novel, though I can’t say too much about ityet.
This is also giving him more free time to do events andconventions. He posts several upcoming events he plans to be at, including A-Kon inDallas, June 1-3 so if you’re a fan, you might get to see more of him now thathe is retiring.
But does this mean Drew won’t be writing anymore? Actually,just the opposite. Retiring officially gives him more time to devote to hiswriting and he’s in the process of the next StarWars: The Old Republic novel so stay tuned for more to come on that later.
He also explains:
Evenif you are someone who is going to miss my contributions to the video gameworld, I hope you’ll be somewhat mollified by the fact that I’m going to havemore time for novels, screenplays and other projects. (Like finally finishingChildren of Fire, the first novel in my original fantasy series, whichI’ve been perpetually working on for almost a decade.)
We’re going to really miss him being on the BioWare team butwish him all the best with his new direction in life. This leaves a new burningquestion in the mind of everyone, though: who’s going to replace him?
