‘Dragon Age’ and ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ lead writer leaving BioWare
The lead writer behind both Dragon Age: Inquisition and Knights of the Old Republic is leaving BioWare after 17+ years with the company.
David Gaider, the writer behind popular BioWare games like Dragon Age: Inquisition andStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, has left the studio after nearly two decades. He announced the news himself in a tweet.
Gaider confirmed that it was his choice to leave in an email to Polygon. “It was indeed my decision, one not made easily since BioWare’s been very good to me, and the parting is amicable,” he wrote. “It’s simply time to move onto a new challenge.”
“As to where I’m headed next, that announcement will come in due time — today’s about saying goodbye and packing up,” he added.
Gaider’s career in the gaming industry began back in 1999, when he was enlisted to work on Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. His designs for the Windows PC RPG gave way to bigger roles and projects; he wrote for characters like HK-47 in Knights of the Old Republic and then served as the lead writer of Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark, his first project in that role.
He went on to work on and design characters for each of the Dragon Age games, starting from its initial release. He also wrote Dragon Age: The Silent Grove, the companion comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics.
Dragon Age: Inquisition, our top game of 2014, saw the openly gay writer designing a “fully gay” character for the first time. Dorian was not only the Dragon Age series’ first gay cast member, but the first to be included in any BioWare game. Gaider wrote about his interest in and experience with creating more inclusive games back in February of 2014, prior to Inquisition‘s release.