In a surprising move, the former creative director of the Dragon Age franchise has left his most recent destination, Ubisoft. In 2017, Mike Laidlaw left BioWare after spending 14 years with the company and being one of the main creatives behind the entire Dragon Age franchise. In late 2018, Laidlaw announced that he was taking his talents to Ubisoft Quebec. That position appears to have not worked out according to plan, as Laidlaw has now confirmed he's left the company.
"Today (Jan 31st) is my last day with Ubisoft," Laidlaw announced on Twitter this past Friday. "Huge thanks to the talented and welcoming folks at Ubisoft Quebec City for my time there," was as much as Laidlaw had to say on the subject. Laidlaw was reportedly the creative director on an unannounced project at Ubisoft, one he had previously said was exciting enough to have him "move half way across the continent" for.
It's unclear what's happened that has led Mike Laidlaw to depart Ubisoft after he was seemingly so excited for the project he'd be working on. A year can change a whole lot, however. It's possible that the project he was working on was canceled or that it turned out much different from what he had in mind when he joined. It's also possible that he received an offer to pick up a new project that was even more exciting to him. It's also unfortunately possible that the situation at Ubisoft wasn't working out and the studio went in a different direction. Anything's possible.
What is known is that Mike Laidlaw is an incredibly experienced RPG designer. Laidlaw was heavily involved with the development of some of BioWare's biggest games, including Jade Empire and the original Mass Effect. He grew into even bigger roles developing the Dragon Age franchise, first as a lead designer for both Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, then as creative director of Dragon Age: Inquisition and the projects that came after. He left BioWare after it his latest Dragon Age project was reported to be canceled.
Some are speculating that Laidlaw could head back to BioWare to work on its currently in-development Dragon Age project. While not impossible, that seems unlikely. Laidlaw's experience would make him most valuable in the pre-production and early creative days of a project's development. The new Dragon Age game is likely well beyond that. Laidlaw is also likely still feeling the burn from the final BioWare Dragon Age project he was working on reportedly being canceled and replaced with a new game, a Games as a Service title. Needless to say, there are other studios working on RPGs that may be a better fit for Laidlaw.