UPDATE: BioWare has confirmed the news in a blog post with comments from both Zeschuk and Muzyka.

It appears both are (for now) leaving games.

Muzyka apparently told EA about his decision back in April 2012, and allowed the company six months to set up a proper transition.

"I now desire to take on a brand new entrepreneurial challenge," said Muzyka. "I believe strongly in the power of free enterprise to enable sustainable change, so my next ‘chapter’ will likely focus on an entirely new industry, something exciting, different and frankly downright scary – investing in and mentoring new entrepreneurs, and more specifically, the field of social/impact investing."

Zeschuk's letter was much more somber, and sounded akin to a man defeated by his work load.

"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," said Zeschuk. "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. For the people I have had the privilege of working with, however, my passion burns as brightly as it did the day we started."

In the immediate future, Zeschuk will pursue his passion for craft beer, and host a web series where he interviews beer creators. It's possible he'll come back to games at a later date, but maybe not.

"If not, I’ll have drunk a lot of tasty beers and may be back in games or even something else completely different," he said. "Ultimately time will tell."

--

At an internal meeting this morning, BioWare co-founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka announced the duo are leaving the company, I’m told by multiple sources close to the situation.

It’s unclear why Zeschuk and Muzyka are leaving.

BioWare and Electronic Arts shipped Star Wars: The Old Republic last December to a mixed critical reception, and the game has struggled to hold onto users since. Dragon Age 3: Inquisition was formally announced yesterday, running on DICE’s Frostbite 2 engine, and is scheduled for a release in late 2013.

Electronic Arts has not respond to my request for comment.

UPDATE: BioWare has confirmed the news in a blog post with comments from both Zeschuk and Muzyka.

It appears both are (for now) leaving games.

Muzyka apparently told EA about his decision back in April 2012, and allowed the company six months to set up a proper transition.

"I now desire to take on a brand new entrepreneurial challenge," said Muzyka. "I believe strongly in the power of free enterprise to enable sustainable change, so my next ‘chapter’ will likely focus on an entirely new industry, something exciting, different and frankly downright scary – investing in and mentoring new entrepreneurs, and more specifically, the field of social/impact investing."

Zeschuk's letter was much more somber, and sounded akin to a man defeated by his work load.

"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," said Zeschuk. "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. For the people I have had the privilege of working with, however, my passion burns as brightly as it did the day we started."

In the immediate future, Zeschuk will pursue his passion for craft beer, and host a web series where he interviews beer creators. It's possible he'll come back to games at a later date, but maybe not.

"If not, I’ll have drunk a lot of tasty beers and may be back in games or even something else completely different," he said. "Ultimately time will tell."

--

At an internal meeting this morning, BioWare co-founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka announced the duo are leaving the company, I’m told by multiple sources close to the situation.

It’s unclear why Zeschuk and Muzyka are leaving.

BioWare and Electronic Arts shipped Star Wars: The Old Republic last December to a mixed critical reception, and the game has struggled to hold onto users since. Dragon Age 3: Inquisition was formally announced yesterday, running on DICE’s Frostbite 2 engine, and is scheduled for a release in late 2013.

Electronic Arts has not respond to my request for comment.

Oh Shit

Well....I guess that's the end, then.

That's crazy.

I remember hearing rumors about this a few months back.  Finally happened, eh?

With the decline in quality from their last few games this doesn't surprise me.

What Jeff said. Woah.

Yikes.

Poor Bioware

Oh man EA and it's hands in everything.

Nail in the coffin.

shit dude

Boom

The Docs :(

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Looking forward to seeing what these two do next.

I guess Star Wars is to blame for this? Sucks for the guys.. maybe they´ll join up with Obsidian or something.

SCOOOOOOOPS

Oh. Shit.

Oh shit

Ha, so it wasn't a simple rumor!

Hey guys, Obsidian is still hiring. Just saying.

Edit: It looks like they're retiring. Well, it's a shame but I respect their decision. Hope them the best even if I didn't like their recent games.

WHAAAT?!

Oh man.

@Brandino: Definitely, yeah. No big surprise. Hopefully we will see a new studio or something, bringing over some talents from the industry to release great games again.

Holy crap. That's huge. That's like Gabe Newell leaving Valve. Or Miyamoto leaving Nintendo.

Thing just keep getting worse for Bioware it seems. What a shame. I wonder what's next for those two.

Oh, shit!

Scoops!

I live in Canada. Do I.... still have to go in to work today?

Incoming kickstarter? :)

@ReyGitano said:

Oh Shit

@Warihay said:

Oh. Shit.

@SlightConfuse said:

Oh shit

@megalowho said:

Oh, shit!

Bananas.

I hope they open another studio.

Oh fuck. That is huge.

I hope Greg flipped out and started throwing stuff, like the Bombcast bit from a while ago.

I think the most important question people need to ask is: Why?

Wow ... just wow. Really bad news.

Wow, Thanks EA

Guess that rumor from a couple months back was true. If I needed anymore confirmation that Dragon Age 3 is going to be just as crap as Dragon Age 2, here it is.

oh shit

HOLY.FUCKIN.SHIT!

Those two guys founded a really great company that made a lot of high-quality games that pushed boundaries when it came to storytelling. It's really unfortunate that it has come to this, and is probably telling of how the company will be handled moving forward.

Hate to play the cynic, but thanks again, EA.

Still waiting for someone to fulfill the Bombcast Bounty and come forward with a secret audio recording of these dude flipping out at a board meeting or something.

More than anything else, I'm curious where they're headed or if they plan on opening a new studio. Also curious to see if they poach any other Bioware employees wherever they're headed.

Probably some internal conflict with EA?

What the fuck, over!?

I hope it's for a good reason at least.

Countdown to a Kickstarter project form them starting now.

Hopefully they can do their own thang, it's not like they're lacking cache in the industry. I mean you wanna see an overnight Kickstarter funding, just list all the games these two have been behind.

And, regardless of what happens, I'm just glad they made it through the Mass Effect main trilogy before leaving.

Yes.

Every week people are leaving companies and studios get shut down...where are the good video game news? :/

Should have chiggity checked themselves before they riggity wrecked themselves....this is too bad.