Don't worry, Mass Effect 5 is totally fine, EA reassures as BioWare downsizes, moving 'many' employees to other studios
One week after revealing that Dragon Age: The Veilguard significantly underperformed by missing its sales expectations by nearly 50%, Electronic Arts has announced that «many» of the studio's employees have been moved to other EA teams as part of an effort to make the company—you guessed it—«more agile.»
«Now that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been released, a core team at BioWare is developing the next Mass Effect game under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others,» BioWare general manager Gary McKay wrote. «In keeping with our fierce commitment to innovating during the development and delivery of Mass Effect, we have challenged ourselves to think deeply about delivering the best experience to our fans. We are taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare.
»Given this stage of development, we don’t require support from the full studio. We have incredible talent here at BioWare, and so we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit. Today’s news will see BioWare become a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs. We appreciate your support as we build a new future for BioWare."
At least one BioWare developer who worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard said on Bluesky after the announcement went live that they'd been laid off, but Electronic Arts declined to comment on possible cuts: In a statement provided to IGN, an EA rep said only that BioWare's «full focus is Mass Effect,» adding, «While we're not sharing numbers, the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development.»
The move doesn't bode well for the future of BioWare, one of EA's most prestigious studios. Dragon Age: The Veilguard now appears to be fully finished—today's announcement seems to
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