What started around seventeen years ago as two medical doctors renouncing their practice to pursue a career in making video games has come to an end as both have decided to retire and begin new chapters in their lives.

Known in the industry as either the “Doctors” (due to them both having medical degrees), or just “Ray and Greg," the two Canadian developers with particularly hard to pronounce last names have captivated fans for almost two decades with the numerous titles they have produced. Tuesday marks an end to their run and contribution to the video game industry as the two simultaneously announced their retirement.

In 1995 Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk initially founded the BioWare studios in order to help Interplay’s Black Isle Studios develop what would eventually become extremely popular RPG titles like Baldur’s Gate and the Neverwinter Nights games. Since then, Interplay has gone out of business, but BioWare eventually came to produce many other large and well-known game franchises, from the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games to Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series. 

Both founding BioWare developers have written blogs giving their sentiments and reasoning behind their retirement, thanks and gratitude towards their friends and fans, and some insight to their plans for the future. 

Muzyka explains his intentions to work with “social entrepreneurship” organizations and charities dealing with “education, health care, and animal rights.” He also expressed interest in learning what sort of work was being done about protecting human rights and civil liberties around the globe. 

Zeschuk on the other hand, had some clearer cut goals in which he wanted more time to dedicate towards his friends and family. Zeschuk plans on using his time to pursue some “personal passion-driven projects related to craft beer." He also has plans for a web series of interviews called The Beer Diaries, which will feature famous breweries and their products.  

With their retirement announcement coming out a day after the announcement for Dragon Age 3: Inquisition, BioWare assures its fans that the retirement of these two key figures within the studio will not hinder current game production and development. Regardless, the video game industry will no doubt feel the presence (or lack thereof) of two very important men that helped shape the genre of RPG video gaming in their career, even if we can’t say their last names properly.

 

Reach Staff Reporter James Nguyen here.