As everyone is well aware now, the Writers Guild of America strike is ongoing, and we are already hearing about some of the effects. Amid that backdrop, David Gaider, a former BioWare writer and current creative director and cofounder of Summerfall Studios, has spoken up about his perspective in a series of recent tweets. He discussed how underappreciated writing is as a skill set, as it’s a skill many people just assume they have and they totally do not. But more pointedly, David Gaider discussed some difficult times as a writer at BioWare, where he said he believed the company “quietly resented” writers up till the time he left the company in 2016.
The pertinent quote follows: “Even BioWare, which built its success on a reputation for good stories and characters, slowly turned from a company that vocally valued its writers to one where we were… quietly resented, with a reliance on expensive narrative seen as the ‘albatross’ holding the company back.” He acknowledged that that might sound like a heavy claim, but he elaborated, “Suddenly (circa 2016) all anyone in charge was asking was ‘how do we have LESS writing?’ A good story would simply happen, via magic wand, rather than be something that needed support and priority.”
Writing is one of those disciplines which is constantly undervalued. It's something that everyone thinks they can do ("I can write a sentence! I know what story is!"), and frankly the difference between good and bad writing is lost on many, anyhow. So why pay much for it, right?
— David Gaider (@davidgaider) May 2, 2023
Even BioWare, which built its success on a reputation for good stories and characters, slowly turned from a company that vocally valued its writers to one where we were… quietly resented, with a reliance on expensive narrative seen as the "albatross" holding the company back.
— David Gaider (@davidgaider) May 3, 2023
At the end of the day, you can say you like good writing – whether it's in a game, a movie, an online article, or whatever – but if you don't value it enough to prioritize it and support it… and, yes, pay writers what they're due… that's not what everyone else is hearing.
— David Gaider (@davidgaider) May 3, 2023
David Gaider would have been working on Anthem at the time he left BioWare in 2016, a game that ultimately launched in 2019 to a reception that was startlingly poor by BioWare standards. Granted, there are always two sides to every story and no one at BioWare has gone on record to respond to these claims, but it’s within the realm of reason that BioWare was having some struggles with writing during that period. In any case, Gaider is better known for his work on the Dragon Age series, which was especially celebrated for its narrative.
Of course, a lot has changed since 2016, which David Gaider himself acknowledges, and it’s entirely possible that, if BioWare “quietly resented” writers back then, the BioWare today is a different beast. Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is reportedly proceeding smoothly through development as a narrative-focused single-player RPG, at the least.
