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Aaryn Flynn leaving BioWare/EA, Casey Hudson returning to assume role of GM

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Casey Hudson returns as BioWare's general manager after a brief stint of retirement followed by a few years of HoloLens work at Microsoft.

Casey originally had left to spend more time with his family and explore the future, but EA has much longer development cycles now, and a division dedicated to exploring new ideas, so presumably this is much more workable for him from a work/life balance perspective and a fresh idea perspective.

Casey Hudson's returning message:

BioWare said:
Coming Home
by Author - BioWarePosted on - July 18, 2017
From Casey Hudson, Incoming General Manager of BioWare

Almost twenty years ago, I decided to apply for a job as a technical artist at a local video game company in Edmonton. Young, and fresh out of University, I'm not sure what I expected it to lead to. But it was the beginning of a career full of experiences and shared accomplishments I never could have dreamed of. So when I left BioWare three years ago, it was the most difficult decision of my career. I needed some time off, needed a bit of change, and wanted to get involved in the new wave of disruptive technologies that were emerging.

The last few years have been transformative for me, from having time to reflect on what I most want to do, to working with new technologies at platform scale. And now, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to return to lead BioWare – a studio that I think of as home.

I'd also like to wish my good friend Aaryn Flynn the very best in the future. Aaryn and I have worked together from the earliest days of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, to setting the foundation for Anthem. We've been through a lot together, and we're all going to miss his presence at the studio.

I think I speak for everyone who has worked with Aaryn – and our fans – when I say thank you for everything. BioWare continues to hold a special magic – full of profoundly talented people, and an inspiring creative energy. When I look at the stunning progress Aaryn and the team has made with Anthem, and the other projects in the works, I truly believe our best is yet to come.
Click to expand...
Source: http://blog.bioware.com/2017/07/18/coming-home/

Aaryn Flynn's departing message:

BioWare said:
Thank You For Everything
by Author - BioWarePosted on - July 18, 2017
From Aaryn Flynn, General Manager of BioWare

After 17 years with BioWare, today I announced that I'll be leaving the studio at the end of July, and that Casey Hudson is returning to Edmonton to take on the role of General Manager for BioWare.

I joined BioWare in Edmonton right out of University. I was privileged to get a chance to join a group of people working on the coolest, most creative things I could imagine. Growing up at BioWare, the events in my life are intimately intertwined with events at the studio. I got married just after we finished Neverwinter Nights. My first son was born while we were wrapping up Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, while my second son was born right after Jade Empire.

From my first day until now, I have learned much, met great colleagues and friends, and got the chance to help give players some truly incredible experiences. Every time I think I've found a favourite game making experience, we start something new and somehow find fun and satisfaction in the new challenges.

I have been contemplating changes in my own life for some time, but when I heard that Casey had confirmed he was up for the task, I realized the opportunities before us. I will be working with him over the next couple of weeks to help catch him up and do my part to set him up for success to be the best GM he can be.

In closing, let me thank our players for everything they've given us over these many years, and to say from the bottom of my heart how important you are to me and the rest of BioWare. I have gone to work every day knowing that I am fortunate to have all of the opportunities I have had at BioWare because of you. Doing whatever I could to help our developers create some of the best games in the industry for you all has been the most humbling experience of my life. Now, I'll be playing BioWare's games in the future from an exciting new perspective – yours ��
Click to expand...
Source: http://blog.bioware.com/2017/07/18/thank-you-for-everything/
 
H

Heckler456

Banned
Holy shit, really? Guessing this is basically an admission that Mass Effect's eventual state was due to bad management?
 
M

MadLaughter

Member
Aaryn Flynn seemed like a cool guy. Was super active on twitter re: Mass Effect Andromeda, posted on GAF a few times... and then the game came out, and he went 99% dark.

Not a big deal or anything, It just seemed strange at the time.
 
X

Xando

Member
Liked Aaryn but after what happened with ME i guess change in the management is a good idea.

Hope he finds a new job soon.
 
JohnnyFootball

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
I liked Flynn.

Nice guy and I appreciated the fact that he seeked fan feedback on things.

He came into the community thread to discuss a potential Mass Effect remaster.
 
T

TC McQueen

Member
Good luck to him wherever he goes.

Not super thrilled that Casey Hudson's back, given his bad decisions on the Mass Effect franchise (making it revolve around the Reapers, coming up with the ME3 endings in like a week or two without workshopping it with the other writers).
 
M

Maledict

Member
JohnnyFootball said:
I liked Flynn.

Nice guy and I appreciated the fact that he seeked fan feedback on things.

He came into the community thread to discuss a potential Mass Effect remaster.
Click to expand...

I don't count that as a good thing. To be blunt, bioware and EA cockteased everyone with the mass effect remaster repeatedly, knowing that it was hugely popular but also knowing they weren't even contemplating it. The entire thing was a bait and switch to keep people talking about Mass Effect because they couldn't share details about Andromeda, and it feels like they abused fans good will with that.

(Nowmof xourse we know why they couldn't share details about Andromeda).
 
P

Paches

Member
LiK said:
The boss is back.
Click to expand...

ht_obama_chewing_ll_1i9six.gif


.
 
O

orangecoke

Member
TC McQueen said:
Good luck to him wherever he goes.

Not super thrilled that Casey Hudson's back, given his bad decisions on the Mass Effect franchise (making it revolve around the Reapers, coming up with the ME3 endings in like a week or two without workshopping it with the other writers).
Click to expand...

I've worked with Casey since Mass was a Word doc concept pitch. Mistakes were made on ME3 ending, absolutely, but Casey is a creative visionary and I am thrilled to see him back (while also saddened it is accompanied by Aaryn's departure).
 
R

RedlineRonin

Member
Ohhhhh Casey.

Sweet, sweet Casey.

Welcome back my friend. You have been missed.

Best of luck to Aaron on his next venture as well. Hope this was a good move for everyone.
 
M

michaelius

Banned
He has some nice games in his resume but they are older titles and his latest ones were ME2&3 so it's way too early to celebrate.

MDK 2 (2000)
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
Neverwinter Nights (2002)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
Jade Empire (2005)
Mass Effect (2007)
Mass Effect 2 (2010)
Mass Effect 3 (2012)
Click to expand...
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Sou Da said:
What the hell was Hudson even doing at Microsoft?
Click to expand...

He was working on HoloLens, presumably because he wanted a 40 hour a week, never any overtime job where he got to explore future tech while he could focus on spending time with his family.

Presumably he got over his burnout (the Mass Effect leads used to do months at 16+ hours a day every other year), and wanted to come back, similar to how Drew Karpyshin (Mass Effect 1's lead writer) left and came back later after he got to write some novels.

EA's projects have endlessly longer development cycles now, so they're less likely to have that kind of abrasive schedule anymore.
 
C

Caboose

Member
Best of luck to Mr. Flynn tho, he was nice enough to post on GAF and interact with the ME community. Props to him.
 
B

benicillin

Banned
Both good news (Casey Hudson returning makes me hopeful for a couple of things) and bad news (Flynn seemed like a good person and GM!)
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
Wouldn't be surprised if it's due to the bad reception of Andromeda, but who knows really. Seemed like a nice guy though, hope he can find something else fast.

Maybe Casey's return is a good sign for Mass Effect future?
 
T

TC McQueen

Member
orangecoke said:
I've worked with Casey since Mass was a Word doc concept pitch. Mistakes were made on ME3 ending, absolutely, but Casey is a creative visionary and I am thrilled to see him back (while also saddened it is accompanied by Aaryn's departure).
Click to expand...
I don't doubt that he's got lots of ideas and is probably a great person on a personal level, but based on what I've seen and experienced by playing the games and keeping up with the marketing for the original trilogy, I remain very skeptical about his ability to see negative consequences to ideas he gets really attached to.

Don't get me wrong, I hope he has transcended that weakness, but until given evidence that he has, I'm going to be cautious with where IP under his tenure is going.
 
T

Tsukumo

Member
End of an era. He's going to deal the final blow and sink Bioware into the ground once and for all.
Watch him fucking up Weekes' Dragon Age projects just for the sake of it...

Bisnic said:
Wouldn't be surprised if it's due to the bad reception of Andromeda, but who knows really. Seemed like a nice guy though, hope he can find something else fast.

Maybe Casey's return is a good sign for Mass Effect future?
Click to expand...

The return of the guy who outright destroyed Mass Effect (3) is a good sign?!
Bisnic! You of all people. You really didn't like Andromeda :D
 
M

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Hopefully he generally manages Bioware towards making another Kotor.

orangecoke said:
Oh, my bad I didn't realize that. Thanks for fixing it :)

Guess it's obvious why I'm not on the PR team!
Click to expand...

Are you on a team that has the power to get another Kotor made? If so please tell me how you like to receive begging :)

orangecoke said:
http://blog.bioware.com I won't be monitoring the thread for questions (busy day as you can imagine),
Click to expand...

I chose to ignore this.
 
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