David Gaider to Leave BioWare

Remember the name David Gaider? He was the lead writer in Dragon Age. After working for 17 years for the game BioWare, he is making his exit to work on a new challenge elsewhere.

The news comes by way of Gaider himself, announcing on Twitter that Friday was in fact, his last day at the studio. According to the Dragon Age: Inquisition lead writer, ‘It wasn’t an easy decision. The parting is amicable, and I know my current project will carry on and be awesome.’

For Gaider, game designing was a hobby. Though he started his professional life providing services at restaurants and hotels, he secretly possessed his desire to design games. A friend of Gaider, Kalvin, happened to be working at BioWare and suggested to Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk that Gaider be given a recently opened position in the design department. Gaider got the job and, as his first assignment, was given the task of providing designs for Baldur’s Gate 2. He wrote the characters HK-47, Jolee Bindo and Carth Onasi for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Last year, Mass Effect 3 director Casey Hudson left the RPG-house and joined Microsoft as creative director where he’s now working on HoloLens and Xbox games. Now, Gaider marks the latest high-profile departure from the studio following co-founders Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk exiting the video game industry altogether in 2012.

Gaider’s been a prominent voice about the role inclusiveness plays in video games and has spoken on multiple panels regarding that very subject. In addition to writing for video games, he’s also published a few novels in the Dragon Age universe.