Last night; Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, co-founders of one of the most important developers in videogames today, Bioware, each posted entries on the Bioware blog announcing both their resignations from Bioware and their retirement from videogames in general. The full blogs can be read here (Ray) and here (Greg), but here are some of the cliff notes.
Ray’s blog was rather upbeat, all things considered. He noted that his decision was “incredibly difficult… to make” but that he made his decision back in April and that, “at that time I provided six months’ notice to EA, to help enable a solid transition for my teams at BioWare.”
On his decision to leave, he said the following.
I feel similar now to how I felt in the early days of BioWare over the decade post-medical school… back when I first realized that the world of video games was my next career ‘chapter’… I feel the need now to move on to a new chapter in my career… I’ve largely personally achieved what I wanted in videogames; I now desire to take on a brand new entrepreneurial challenge… To that end, I’ll also be spending time getting involved with more charities in education, health care, and animal rights, areas where my wife and I’ve typically focused our charitable donations in the past.
He also had nothing but positive things to say about his former co-workers and employers.
The past five+ years at EA have been very good for me personally. I’ve learned a lot about navigating successfully within a larger publicly traded company, working with – and continually being inspired by – a large, passionate team across many locations… I leave BioWare and EA and the video game industry with tremendously positive memories from both the early days at BioWare… and also more recently with BioWare as a division and most recently a Label within EA.
Dr. Muzyka signed off with the following.
I’m humbled by the thought that I helped play a role, however small, in the successful evolution of the videogame industry which I still love so much. I will definitely miss this industry and my teams, but I also look forward to and am incredibly excited by the new challenges in the next chapter of my career.
Greg’s blog, on the other hand, was a lot more sombre. His reason for leaving, in particular, hits close to home for anyone who knows what it’s like to fall out of love with something you used to enjoy doing.
This decision isn’t without significant pain and regret, but it’s also something I know I need to do, for myself and my family. I’ve reached an unexpected point in my life where I no longer have the passion that I once did for the company, for the games, and for the challenge of creation.
Despite that, though, he, just like Ray, had nothing but positive things to say about his team and their EA overlords.
For the people I have had the privilege of working with, however, my passion burns as brightly as it did the day we started. The people I work with now, and that I have worked with in the past, have inspired me and really made all of the challenges we’ve collectively faced over the years worthwhile… I have full confidence in the current leadership team guiding BioWare to continued future success. I’d also like to thank EA for the amazing support we’ve received in recent years… I’ve had the great fortune of making a number of lifelong friends within EA that I’ll always cherish; happily I leave this experience with great people to remember it by.
As for what Greg’s going to do next? Well, I’ll let the man himself tell you.
After my departure I’m going to be spending significant time with family and friends, as well as pursuing some personal passion-driven projects related to craft beer. The main project I will be working on is a web-based interview show called The Beer Diaries where I interview notable brewers and showcase their beers. If things go well, I’ll work on other beer-related shows, apps and projects. If not, I’ll have drunk a lot of tasty beers and may be back in games or even something else completely different. Ultimately time will tell.
Both men also had great things to say about each other in their posts. Go give them a read, they’re really interesting.
But that’s that, then. We lost two highly influential people in the industry yesterday; men who have probably had an effect on your life through their products in some way, shape or form over the last near-two decades. Men who have steered one of the best and most important developers in the industry to greatness and, arguably, helped change the shape of the whole RPG genre forever. Their contributions can never be overstated and they will be missed.
Via: Giant Bomb, Bioware Blog
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