Mass Effect's Casey Hudson Will Leave BioWare

Karloff

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Mass Effect's Casey Hudson Will Leave BioWare



Hudson's sorry to go, but knows that he's leaving his projects in good hands.

"This is without a doubt the most difficult decision of my career," says executive producer Casey Hudson, as he announces his departure. "BioWare is as magical a place today as it was when I started." Magical or not, he feels it's time to go, and while there's much talk of 'a new set of challenges' there's no word on what Hudson might be up to next.

Hudson started as a technical artist on Neverwinter Nights, before moving on to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Soon after his triumph there, he led the team that made the Mass Effect trilogy. He's one of BioWare's old guard, having joined not long after the company was created in 1995, and sticking with it through the acquisition by Electronic Arts in 2007. Not that long ago the two co-founders left the company [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119650-BioWare-Co-Founders-Retire], after 17 years with BioWare; Hudson's departure must be a bitter pill for the developer to swallow.

The last time we heard anything from Hudson [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126042-Core-KOTOR-Devs-Working-on-New-Bioware-IP], he was Tweeting about a mysterious new IP which the core team behind KOTOR was supposed to be working on. He doesn't say much about that IP in his departure message, except that "the foundation of our new IP in Edmonton is complete" and the team's about to move into pre-production.

Hudson's last message is to the fans. "Having led the development of four major titles, I'm profoundly appreciative of the role I've been able to play in creating these games," he says. "The very idea that so many of you have enjoyed spending time in the worlds we've created is the defining achievement of my career, and it's your support over the years that made it all possible.

"Thank you."

Source: BioWare [http://blog.bioware.com/2014/08/07/casey-hudsons-departure-from-biowareea/]


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Bat Vader

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Mar 11, 2009
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17 years? He doesn't look that old with how long he has been with Bioware. He could pry make his own studio if he wanted.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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Sep 8, 2011
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I'm conflicted. On one hand he is responsible for a lot of good stuff that came out of Bioware and he is clearly talented. On the other hand, fuck this guy, he's a lying son of a *****. Nothing he said about Mass Effect 3 was true. It was, in fact, the exact opposite of what he said.
 

Coruptin

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Jul 9, 2009
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Was this the guy who decided to write the ending to mass effect 3 by himself
 

Karathos

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Regardless of his old successes on such things as KOTOR and NWN, his work on trying to destroy Mass Effect 3 has given him a permanent spot on the shit-list in my brain.
 

Hawkeye21

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Oh, it's that guy who managed to do that thing I previously considered impossible, namely singlehandedly making a whole series of games into shit [em]retroactively[/em]. That was hella impressive. Hope he finds work he is actually suited for, like working grill in Burger King.
 

Pinky's Brain

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The odds of ME4 being a sequel just went up a notch ... now only Mac Walters has any real investment in keeping ME4 a pre/side/inter-quel.
 

Zhukov

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Coruptin said:
Was this the guy who decided to write the ending to mass effect 3 by himself
Dead Raen said:
Coruptin said:
Was this the guy who decided to write the ending to mass effect 3 by himself
Eeeeeeyup.

Good riddance as far as I'm concerned.
Was this ever actually confirmed or proven in any way, shape or form?

Not trying to defend the ending or anything, I didn't much care for it either, but I've never seen any kind of proof for the whole Hudson-and-Walters-solo'd-the-ending-and-fucked-it-up story. It started with an anonymous post on a Penny Arcade forum and people have been spreading it around as gospel ever since.
 

Frostbyte666

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Is it too soon to break out the party poppers? I'm still refusing to play Mass Effect 3 and going to wait a good couple of months after the release of Dragon Age 3 to see if it's a game I'd like.
 

Pinky's Brain

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It was not an anonymous post, it was a post made with the account of a known Bioware employee.

Even if it was untrue, Casey was still the director and Walters still the head writer. So they bear most the responsibility for ME3's RGB scorched earth and illusion of player agency destroying ending regardless.
 

Rodolphe Kourkenko

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I don't really care about this. I will remember the overhyping of a game and the disastrous PR speech before and after launch. (in all honesty, it made me laugh for DaI when they spoke about "award winning story" when they show only combat^^).

I just find really strange to leave a studio when a new IP is ready to go on production... Worse it's his creation.
Speculation for everyone: EA let him finish his work before showing him the exit ?

Edit: it wasn't an anonymous post, it was made by Weekes on GAF and Bioware did several post on their forums and blog trying to evade this stunt.

@Pinky's Brain: i would prefer a sequel because inter/pre/whatever quel is forever doomed to meet a RGB rainbow ^^
 

Riff Moonraker

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Adam Jensen said:
I'm conflicted. On one hand he is responsible for a lot of good stuff that came out of Bioware and he is clearly talented. On the other hand, fuck this guy, he's a lying son of a *****. Nothing he said about Mass Effect 3 was true. It was, in fact, the exact opposite of what he said.
Agreed. But, ultimately, I would suggest handling this like I handle George Lucas. He is the guy that created Star Wars, and for THAT, I will be forever thankful to the man. But I was glad to see Disney take it over, because someone needed to get that mans hands away from the franchise, so he would quit screwing up what was a good thing.

I will be forever thankful to him for Mass Effect, KOTOR, etc. as I adore those games. But yeah, he dropped the ball with the ending of ME 3. Now we will have to wait and see if this helps or hurts the next Mass Effect game.
 

Trishbot

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Rodolphe Kourkenko said:
I don't really care about this. I will remember the overhyping of a game and the disastrous PR speech before and after launch. (in all honesty, it made me laugh for DaI when they spoke about "award winning story" when they show only combat^^).

I just find really strange to leave a studio when a new IP is ready to go on production... Worse it's his creation.
Speculation for everyone: EA let him finish his work before showing him the exit ?
Well, the same thing happened to Mega Man Legends 3. Keiji Inafune finally got the project up and running, left the studio, and Capcom pulled the plug shortly thereafter.

I think EA's too committed to Mass Effect at this point, but we'll see.
 

BlueJoneleth

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Optimystic said:
Coruptin said:
Was this the guy who decided to write the ending to mass effect 3 by himself
Pretty sure that was Mac Walters who is still there.
No he left before the end.

Mac Walters wrote the gurren lagann ending that got scrapped.

Edit : I'm wrong and confused Walters with Drew Karpyshyn. >_>
 
Mar 9, 2012
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And nothing of value was lost.

Let's see how long Walters, his partner-in-art-crime, lasts without him.

Zhukov said:
Was this ever actually confirmed or proven in any way, shape or form?

Not trying to defend the ending or anything, I didn't much care for it either, but I've never seen any kind of proof for the whole Hudson-and-Walters-solo'd-the-ending-and-fucked-it-up story. It started with an anonymous post on a Penny Arcade forum and people have been spreading it around as gospel ever since.
It was an account belonging to someone who had a history of sharing inside knowledge about the development process and claimed to be Patrick Weekes. Occam's razor would say that he likely told the truth.
 

Ed130 The Vanguard

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Sep 10, 2008
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Zhukov said:
Coruptin said:
Was this the guy who decided to write the ending to mass effect 3 by himself
Dead Raen said:
Coruptin said:
Was this the guy who decided to write the ending to mass effect 3 by himself
Eeeeeeyup.

Good riddance as far as I'm concerned.
Was this ever actually confirmed or proven in any way, shape or form?

Not trying to defend the ending or anything, I didn't much care for it either, but I've never seen any kind of proof for the whole Hudson-and-Walters-solo'd-the-ending-and-fucked-it-up story. It started with an anonymous post on a Penny Arcade forum and people have been spreading it around as gospel ever since.
As [user]Pinky's Brain[/user] stated, they were the director and head writer respectively. Even if they had absolutely no input with the ending (which is doubtful), they were still in positions where they should have had the final say.