Mass Effect Scribe Retires From Game Biz

Drew Karpyshyn

Drew Karpyshyn, the lead writer on Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic, is moving on from the gaming industry, he said in a blog post earlier this week.

Karpyshyn explained that after years of penning the stories of many of BioWare’s flagship titles, he is leaving to pursue other projects including the next novelization of Star Wars: The Old Republic and an original fantasy novel titled Children of Fire.

“[Even] though I’ll no longer be working on games for BioWare, I’m not going to be severing all ties with them,” Karpyshyn wrote. “Many of my closest friends still work at the company, and I’m also in the process of writing the next Star Wars: The Old Republic novel, though I can’t say too much about it yet.”

Karpyshyn said that while it was an incredibly tough decision to make, his departure was “amicable,” and something he felt he had to do to grow as an artist.

“I’m proud of everything we accomplished,” he wrote, “and I know going forward that BioWare will continue to live up to its well-deserved reputation for making the best story driven games in the industry… I’m looking forward to experiencing the games as a fan rather than from the other side of the fence.”