Anthem Game Director Jonathan Warner Departs BioWare After Nearly 10 Years

Anthem’s game director Jonathan Warner has left BioWare after nearly 10 years at the studio.Warner announced the news on Twitter alongside a gif of the spinning top from Inception.

“So, today is my last day at BioWare,” Warner wrote. “I’m moving on to do new things. BioWare has been home to my grateful heart for nearly 10 years and I want to wish them all the best. [Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Star Wars: The Old Republic] are in good hands and I can’t wait to play from this side of the screen. #ThankYou #BioWare”

Warner’s decision to leave arrives a bit over a month after BioWare officially announced that it would be stopping development on Anthem Next.

Anthem had a rough launch when it was released in 2019, and BioWare revealed it had plans to overhaul Anthem to improve the game’s core loop and systems like loot, quests, and social elements. Unfortunately, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the studio’s desire to focus on Dragon Age and Mass Effect, that plan was never realized.

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This is another departure of note for BioWare, and follows last year’s news that Casey Hudson, the general manager of BioWare, and Mark Darrah, the executive producer on Dragon Age 4, were also leaving the studio.

Despite these changes, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in 2020 that he was “very, very confident” in the studio’s future, a future that includes Dragon Age 4, the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and the next entry in the Mass Effect series.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.