BioWare lays off roughly 50 employees: 'We must shift towards a more agile and more focused studio'
In a blog post that studio manager Gary McKay said was «deeply painful and humbling to write,» BioWare announced that it is laying off roughly 50 employees in order to «preserve the health of the studio and better enable us to do what we do best: create exceptional story-driven single-player experiences filled with vast worlds and rich characters.»
«In order to meet the needs of our upcoming projects, continue to hold ourselves to the highest standard of quality, and ensure BioWare can continue to thrive in an industry that’s rapidly evolving, we must shift towards a more agile and more focused studio,» McKay wrote. «It will allow our developers to iterate quickly, unlock more creativity, and form a clear vision of what we’re building before development ramps up.
»To achieve this, we find ourselves in a position where change is not only necessary, but unavoidable. As difficult as this is to say, rethinking our approach to development inevitably means reorganizing our team to match the studio’s changing needs. "
In practical terms, that 'reorganization' means that approximately 50 jobs at BioWare have been eliminated. McKay said the studio is doing all it can to help its former employees find jobs in other Electronic Arts studios, but acknowledged that «it’s unlikely that everyone will find a new role within the company.»
The corporate world is unforgiving, and the videogame industry in particular is notoriously fickle when it comes to how it treats employees: Layoffs are common, especially at major studios, and widely accepted as just a part of the business. Even so, the timing of these cuts comes off as odd. BioWare is deep into development on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, and also spinning up a new Mass Effect game, and with
Read more on pcgamer.com
