Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn is back at BioWare

He is also the author of numerous Mass Effect and Star Wars novels.

That does not mean, he hastened to add, that a new project is in the works.

He might be working on Star Wars for the moment but he is also working on another book, which will probably be linked to one of the major intellectual properties that the studio owns. He won’t be working on Mass Effect: Andromeda, though. The short answer: no. I originally came to the Austin studio many years ago to work on SWTOR and – at least for now – that’s what I’m focusing on again.

He must have impressed BioWare: by the time of Knights of the Old Republic he’d invented meatbag-mocking droid HK-47, and afterwards led writing on Mass Effect 1 and 2 (and is therefore not responsible for any lingering disappointment you might be harbouring about 3’s ending). With story such a key component of the expansion, it’s good that BioWare has veterans like Karpyshyn on staff. Mass Effect: Andromeda’s writing team, meanwhile, is being headed up by newcomer Chris Schlerf.

Karpyshyn’s absence from Mass Effect 3 was apparent throughout most of its events.

Karpyshyn announced in 2012 that he had “retired” from the game industryand that his parting was “completely amicable and 100 per cent my decision”. Karpyshyn served as the lead writer on the first two games, which are considered by many fans of the series to have far better stories than the third game in the franchise.

While no release date has been set, Mass Effect: Andromeda, the series’ fourth installment, is expected to launch sometime in late 2016.