Laid-off Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect devs mark N7 Day by protesting outside BioWare HQ

rockpapershotgun.com:

Laid-off Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect developers are attempting to turn this year's "N7 Day" of Mass Effect-themed festivities into a day of mass revolt. The developers in question are a mixture of former full-time staff and former Keywords Studios QA testers who have worked on Dreadwolf under contract. They've organised pickets outside BioWare Edmonton's offices in Canada, and are calling on BioWare fans to get involved on social media, while trying to engage current BioWare staff in conversation about unionisation.

The protesting QA testers were laid off in late September, after BioWare decided not to renew their contract with Keywords for work on the new Dragon Age, which is supposedly playable from start to finish. They're calling for their jobs to be reinstated, and continue to claim that they were fired as punishment for forming a union.

Naturally, BioWare and parent company EA feel they aren't themselves responsible for the layoffs. As reported by Game Developer, they appealed to the Alberta Labour Relations Board to block today's Keywords union protest, arguing that as the Keywords staff were remote workers, they are not legally entitled to picket outside BioWare's offices.

The Keywords union have, however, convinced the Labour Board that BioWare's offices did represent their place of work during their time on the Dreadwolf project, not least because it relied on remote access to computers housed within the building. They began working for the Dragon Age team during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, which obliged them to do so from home. They also claim they decided to unionise only after Keywords and BioWare attempted to mandate a return to the office.

In a statement picked up by Game