Former Mass effect head writer Mac Walters has reflected on his time at BioWare and explained why he decided to leave the studio earlier this year.
In a recent one MinnMax job interview (via IGN), Walters discussed how the company grew during the 19 years he worked there, what the process was like for building the company Mass effect series, especially the Legendary Edition. He also discussed how he decided to leave and start his new studio, Untold Worlds, which is part of NetEase Games.
“It was really just time for me,” Walters said. “After 19 years, it felt like this was the moment. There was no definitive reason or anything to discuss, so (I said) 'let's part amicably, and you will continue with your work.' thing and I'm going to do my thing and figure that out.”
The writer went on to talk about the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition – a remastered version of the trilogy launched in 2021 – and explained how the team created a project that was “unplanned” at the request of Electronic Arts. He added that in his view the way to make it successful was to “be a little bit rogue and a little bit entrepreneurial in the way we were going to build this out with the people we had and the people we could get without the disrupt others. teams in the meantime.”
He continued: “That process reminded me of the early days of BioWare, because we were a small, scrappy team, (a) lot of people wearing a lot of different hats. (…) There was a lot of camaraderie that developed with that team, I think me because we stayed small. (…) A lot of it reminded me of, call it the good old days or whatever.'
Walters explained that developing and shipping the Legendary Edition was what gave him the final push to leave BioWare, and what allowed him to leave Mass effect for good.
“It was so successful for me as a project, in the sense that the team was healthy, we got along well, and of course it was critically and financially successful,” Walters said. “It just felt like this was the culmination of everything I've done Mass effect, which is basically like all things. I don't want to do anything anymore Mass effect after this. Why tempt fate?”
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