Drew Karpyshyn announces retirement from games writing

Bioware writer Drew Karpyshyn, who worked on games including the Mass Effect series and SWtoR, has announced that he's leaving both Bioware and the industry itself in order to work exclusively on his novels.

Currently in the works from Karpyshyn are an Old Republic novel and the first instalment of his own fantasy series, dubbed Children of Fire.

In a post on his personal blog, Karpyshyn spoke about his respect for the team at Bioware, as well as his excitement at the prospect of enjoying their games as a pure consumer.

"For the past twelve years I've had the privilege to work at one of the best companies in the video game industry, side by side with the most talented and incredible group of people I've ever had the good fortune to know," writes Karpyshyn.

"I've enjoyed my time at BioWare immensely, but it's time for me to move on."

"I'm leaving to focus more time and energy on my novels and other non-video game related projects. But even though I'll no longer be working on games for BioWare, I'm not going to be severing all ties with them. Many of my closest friends still work at the company, and I'm also in the process of writing the next Star Wars: The Old Republic novel, though I can't say too much about it yet.

"During my time at BioWare I worked on a number of beloved and award winning titles. I'm proud of everything we accomplished, and I know going forward that BioWare will continue to live up to its well deserved reputation for making the best story driven games in the industry. The story and dialogue in any BioWare game is the result of an entire team of writers working together, and I often felt I received an excessive amount of the credit for the games we created.

"The Dragon Age games and the continued success of the Mass Effect series after my departure make it pretty clear that BioWare can get along just fine without me, and I'm looking forward to experiencing the games as a fan rather than from the other side of the fence."