The director of BioWare’s ill-fated Anthem has announced that he’s left the company after nearly a decade.
Jonathan Warner announced on Twitter that he has left BioWare for “new things”, expressing his gratitude to the company and saying that Dragon Age, Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic are all in good hands.
No details were given on what “new things” the Anthem director is moving onto, or if it’s even in the gaming industry. Warner was also credited with being a game director on Mass Effect: Andromeda, as well as being a producer on Mass Effect for the Mass Effect Trilogy.
Going on his LinkedIn page reveals that he was also BioWare’s Chief of Staff, so his departure is pretty significant. Before BioWare, Warner worked on movie tie-in titles like Chicken Little, Toy Story 3, and Cars 2, until he moved on to being a Senior Producer at EA.
Jonathan Warner’s departure comes after the recent announcement that EA is pulling the plug on development for Anthem Next, the proposed reworking of the original release, ending the game once and for all after years of rocky reception. BioWare is now refocusing efforts on the upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect projects, which we've seen a few teasers for.
It's not clear whether Johnathan Warner's departure is related to Anthem Next's closure or not. Warner worked as a director on the original release, but the team working on Anthem Next was incredibly small, so it's unclear whether or not he was a part of the effort to revitalise the game. The most prominent figure on Anthem Next, Christian Dailey, has since moved on to oversee the Dragon Age franchise and is now the executive producer on the next entry.
It isn’t the first reshuffle for BioWare in recent memory. Ex-general manager Casey Hudson and ex-executive producer for Dragon Age 4, Mark Darrah, left the studio towards the end of last year.
In more positive BioWare news, Christian Dailey recently took to Twitter to show off some brand new artwork for the upcoming Dragon Age game, whilst Henry Cavill seemed to tease his involvement in something Mass Effect related.