Earlier this week, former BioWare dev Mike Laidlaw sat down in a new interview to discuss a wide variety topics including why he felt the need to leave the company after 14 years and future plans.
Videos by ComicBook.com
In the video seen above, Laidlaw can be heard speaking with Game Informer about what it would be like to tackle the amazing road ahead for Cyberpunk 2077. The developers over at CD Projekt RED know a thing or two about creating amazing franchises, just look at the beloved The Witcher series that they adapted from the popular novels into a phenomenal RPG experience.
Cyberpunk 2077 was first announced back in 2012 but despite immediately igniting fan excitement, the team wanted to avoid the misstep many developers tend to make and show off anything before it was ready. Smart for them, agonizing for us.
Laidlaw himself is no stranger to the strong narrative game, he has been paramount to works such as the Mass Effect trilogy, the Dragon Age franchise, and the infamous Jade Empire title. When he mentioned that he would have loved to be a part of the Cyberpunk crew, there was definitely a lot of fan excitement. In the interview, he even called himself “a giant Cyberpunk nerd straight up, Neuromancer is my favourite novel of all time. Like, William Gibson could write on the stall of a bathroom and I would make a small pilgrimage there.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the possibility is really there. He can be heard discussing what hardships would be involved with moving his family to Poland and it seems like there might just be too many hindrances for a move like that. Though now that the idea is out there, it’s hard not to wish super hard for it.
As far as why he left BioWare in the first place, he said that one of the factors involved with his decision to leave was as simple as getting that “seven-year itch, times two” when reflecting on his 14 years with the company. For those worried it was a negative sign regarding the upcoming Dragon Age title, he mentioned that Thedas was in good hands, it was simply the right time. With development on Anthem in full swing and Dragon Age being focused on with a core team, he felt that everything just lined up perfectly to pursue other ventures. Though it was a “difficult” choice to make, he stands by it being the right one.
You can hear all he had to say about BioWare, CD Projekt RED, and more in the video above!
