David Gaider, former lead writer of Dragon Age, leaves BioWare

David Gaider

Former Dragon Age Lead Writer David Gaider has announced that he has left BioWare. Gaider didn't reveal the reasons for his departure, saying in an email to Polygon that it was “simply time to move on to a new challenge.”

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“It was indeed my decision, not one made easily since BioWare's been very good to me, and the parting is amicable,” he wrote. “As to where I'm headed next, that announcement will come in due time.”

Gaider is likely best known for his work as the lead writer on the Dragon Age series, from Origins through Inquisition, but his influence goes back much further than that. Mobygames lists his first BioWare credit as a member of the core design team on the 2000 RPG Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, and he also worked on the Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal expansion, Neverwinter Nights and its Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide expansions, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Gaider's departure comes less than a year after he announced that he was leaving the Dragon Age series to work on a new, and at this point still unrevealed, BioWare project.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.