Earlier this month EA had a rough earnings call. Depending on who you talk to the reason is either Dragon Age: The Veilguard or EA’s FIFA rebrand. By the numbers, it’s primarily the FIFA rebrand. Though I’m sure there are dozens of YouTubers claiming that DEI or some such spelled the end of the Dragon Age series, despite the game getting glowing reviews, especially from me, the result is the same and EA is missing money it promised to shareholders. Normally, EA would simply axe the studios but for some reason, BioWare is being kept alive.
Update 1/29 6:10pm – Of course, it was always layoffs. This was a coward’s gambit.
What BioWare’s Studio Update Tells Us About Mass Effect 5 and Dragon Age’s Future
Quite frankly, after playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I was pleased with the direction BioWare was going and had hoped for good things with Mass Effect 5. I refuse to let my mood be soured by a single game, good or bad. But today, BioWare’s General Manager, Gary McKay, put out a studio update that’s just bizarre.
“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.”
That sounds fine. Truthfully, to me, that sounds like layoffs. But throughout the entire update, which can be read here, there’s no mention of layoffs. However, there’s also no mention of headcount or retaining talent. Instead, we get some corpospeak about how BioWare is so efficient, they don’t even NEED the full studio’s support anymore, and so they’re looking to place talent in other studios.
“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.”
BioWare Faces Uncertainty After EA’s Earnings Call: What’s Next for Fans?
Honestly, if it’s between mass layoffs and placing existing studio members into other, healthier studios, this is great news. Bad news for BioWare, but excellent news for the employees. I’m a little more cynical than that, unfortunately. Consider my spirit broken from years of reporting layoffs in this industry, but I’m not sure that’s happening here. I hope they’re helping these people find solid footing though.
“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.”
Well, okay. I’m still optimistic about Mass Effect 5 and still think Dragon Age: The Veilguard is one of the series best titles. Whether or not BioWare is able to withstand the hits is another question though.
