There is a changing of the guard happening at BioWare Edmonton that sees the return of the former Mass Effect game director.

Aaryn Flynn, the current general manager at BioWare, will be leaving at the end of July. In his place returns Casey Hudson, who left the company in August of 2014 to get “involved in the new wave of disruptive technologies” that were being developed at the time. He would later become the creative director at Microsoft Studios.

Having been with the company for 17 years, Flynn has been involved in every major release from BioWare, including Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Jade Empire. Flynn was naturally sentimental in his farewell, saying in a company blog post, “Let me thank our players for everything they’ve given us over these many years, and to say from the bottom of my heart how important you are to me and the rest of BioWare.”

In a separate blog post, Hudson expresses excitement for his return to the fold. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to return to lead BioWare – a studio that I think of as home,” writes Hudson, who is best known for his work as Game Director on the original Mass Effect trilogy.

Hudson’s return and Flynn’s departure continues the trend of major shake-ups at BioWare. It was revealed that soon after Mass Effect Andromeda’s lackluster release that many of the developers at BioWare Montreal who were working on the titles were reassigned to other projects, most notably the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront II. Mass Effect as a series has reportedly been placed on hiatus, with only a token team working on bug fixes and supporting its multiplayer content.

BioWare has also recently revealed their brand new IP, Anthem, the current project of the Edmonton office. Set for release in the Fall of 2018, Anthem promises to be an exciting new squad-based multiplayer experience - a genre that the company is relatively new to. The gameplay footage shown at E3 last June looked absolutely stunning, with players stepping into giant mechanized suits that rain fiery destruction on alien monsters in a gorgeous environment.

With Destiny 2 set for release later this year, time will tell if Anthem’s hype remains strong enough to endure another squad-based title beating it to market.