'Mass Effect: Andromeda' lead writer joins Bungie

Not long after the departure of writer David Gaider, another scribe from Canadian developer BioWare has left the company. This time it's the lead writer from the upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda, Chris Schlerf. The announcement comes by way of Schlerf himself via a series of tweets. Naturally, he's proud of his work on the game and says he's excited to play it upon release, in addition to saying that working with BioWare was one of the best experiences of his career. Where's he working now? In another sci-fi universe under the employ of Bungie where he's presumably writing the next bits of Destiny.

This shift could signal a few things. Given Schlerf's short tenure (his Linkedin profile says he left BioWare last September after joining in November 2013), he may have been a contracted employee, with his duties ending once a bulk of the work as lead writer was done on Andromeda. That'd make his leaving a normal course of business.

The other possibility, when combined with the rest of BioWare's high-level exits these past few years, might be an indication that something is afoot at the studio and leadership-role workers are leaving for better opportunities sooner rather than later. We've reached out for more information and will update this post if anything becomes clearer.