Mass Effect and Dragon Age veteran calls out BioWare’s biggest RPG failure as he slams EA’s new ‘hunger’ for AI

Mass Effect and Dragon Age veteran David Gaider has hit back at his former publisher’s apparent “hunger” for AI development tools, referencing developer BioWare’s biggest failure.

Earlier this week, Andrew Wilson, CEO of BioWare owner EA, doubled the company’s commitment to AI. During an earnings conference call, Wilson suggested that “over 50% of our development processes” would be affected by generative AI in the future and that there was a “real thirst” to use these tools across the enterprise.

Several industry figures have fired back at Wilson’s aims, but perhaps none more acerbic than David Gaider, who worked at BioWare for 17 years starting in 1999. During his time at the studio, he helped shaping several massive CRPGs, as well as the developer’s pivot to Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

In a tweet, Gaider said the “hunger” Wilson was referring to “is the allure of a spreadsheet where labor costs suddenly appear as a tiny bar compared to the other bars.” He also suggests that the benefits of AI accrue to executives rather than developers. In a follow-up, he says: “They want you to believe that their developers are very excited to integrate generative AI into their processes, but I assure you that what they took as enthusiasm was not in reality than a veiled cry of despair.”

This desperation, Gaider asserts, “is reminiscent of when the team was informed of its new ‘really cool’ live service mandate.” It’s not hard to see what he means by this: after making a name for itself with expansive, story-driven single-player RPGs, BioWare’s next game after Mass Effect Andromeda was Anthem, an online multiplayer game which failed miserably after its release in 2019. Despite its plans for a live service, Anthem’s development was unceremoniously halted two years after its release (and after the promised overhaul failed to materialize). Since then, BioWare has returned to its daily bread, with Mass Effect 5 should follow Dragon Age Dread WolfWhich one is expected in the next 12 months.

Check out our list of best BioWare gamesclass.