Dragon Age 4’s creative director has left BioWare

Dragon Age’s senior creative director has left BioWare, with the long-awaited fourth game in the series still in development.

Matt Goldman was a more-than-20-year veteran of BioWare, having worked on Baldur’s Gate and the early Dragon Age games.

In an internal email sent to BioWare staff, published by Kotaku, BioWare’s studio GM Gary McKay acknowledged that the creative director’s departure could affect some employees’ work, but insisted that the game would not ship until it met standards.

The full letter to staff reads:

In a separate statement, an EA spokesperson said: “Matt Goldman is no longer working at BioWare. He leaves the next Dragon Age game in excellent hands, with the team here at the studio who will carry forward our vision for the game.”

In July, it was claimed that Dragon Age 4 development was on schedule ahead of a potential release in 2023.

Speaking in October 2019, EA said it didn’t expect to release the next Dragon Age game before its fiscal year 2023, which begins on April 1, 2022.

“You should assume that Dragon Age—it’s out there, we’ve talked about it publicly that it’s in the works—it probably comes after fiscal 22,” EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said.

BioWare released the first full Dragon Age 4 trailer in December 2020.

“We’re still in early production but we thought it was time to give you the very first look at how BioWare’s passionate team of developers are crafting this very special game,” it said at the time.