Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn returns to BioWare

Drew Karpyshyn is what you'd call an 'influential dude' at BioWare. He has design and/or writing credits going all the way back to Baldur's Gate 2, he was the senior writer on Knights of the Old Republic, the lead writer on Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, and did a bunch of other stuff too. He left BioWare in early 2012, not long after the launch of the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. But now he's back.

Karpyshyn revealed his return over the weekend on his personal website. "As of this past week, I am back working at BioWare again! For those who don’t know, I spent over a decade with BioWare working on many award winning and fan-beloved games like Mass Effect 1 and 2, Knights of the Old Republic and the Star Wars: The Old Republic Online MMO," he wrote. "A few years ago I left BioWare to focus on my Chaos Born novels, but now that the trilogy is finished, I’ve decided to come back into the fold. But for those of you who love my novels, don’t worry—I’ll still be writing more of those, too!"

Anticipating the speculation on the reasons for his return, he said he's not going back to start work on a new project. "The short answer: no," he continued. "I originally came to the Austin studio many years ago to work on SWTOR and—at least for now—that's what I’m focusing on again."

Karpyshyn said he'll be taking part in an AMA on Reddit's r/fantasy forum, in which he will presumably dig deeper into his reasons for rejoining the band, on October 8.

Thanks, ActionTrip.

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.