- cross-posted to:
- technews@radiation.party
- cross-posted to:
- technews@radiation.party
[archive.org](https://web.archive.org/web/20230823173417/https://blog.bioware.com/2023/08/23/an-update-on-the-state-of-bioware/)
Hello again,
Today, rather than discuss one of our upcoming projects, I’d like to share an update about the studio itself and outline our vision for BioWare’s future.
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. 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.
As part of this transition, we are eliminating approximately 50 roles at BioWare. That is deeply painful and humbling to write. We are doing everything we can to ensure the process is handled with empathy, respect, and clear communication. With that last point in mind, I want to take a moment to explain how we got here, what we’re doing to support our colleagues, and what this means for BioWare’s current and future games.
WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW
After much consideration and careful planning, we have built a long-term vision that will 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. This vision balances the current needs of the studio—namely, ensuring Dragon Age™: Dreadwolf is an outstanding game—with its future, including the success of the next Mass Effect™.
We’ve chosen to act now in part to provide our impacted colleagues with as many internal opportunities as possible. These changes coincide with a significant number of roles that are currently open across EA’s other studios. Impacted employees will be provided with professional resources and assistance as they apply for these positions.
While it’s unlikely that everyone will find a new role within the company, we are committed to supporting our staff as they navigate this change. Our sincere hope is that they can continue their exemplary work at studios who stand to benefit immensely from their talents.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
If you’re wondering how all of this will impact development of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, let me be clear that our dedication to the game has never wavered. Our commitment remains steadfast, and we all are working to make this game worthy of the Dragon Age name. We are confident that we’ll have the time needed to ensure Dreadwolf reaches its full potential.
I can also tell you that every member of our team, even those departing BioWare, deserves credit for crafting a spectacular experience. These are our colleagues and friends, and we would not be here without them. I am so proud of all the work our team has done.
WHAT COMES NEXT
While this is an extremely difficult day for everyone at BioWare, we are making changes now to build a brighter future. We’re excited for all of you to see what we’ve been building with Dreadwolf. A core veteran team led by Mike Gamble continues their pre-production work on the next Mass Effect. Our commitment to quality continues to be our North Star.
As cliche as this sounds, there truly is never a good time to enact changes like this, but we trust that we have the right leaders and team in place with vision, passion, and proven track records to deliver world-class Dragon Age and Mass Effect experiences that our fans will love.
For now, I want to thank everyone at BioWare—past and present—for making the studio what it is. I also want to thank our community for your continued support. We’re eager to reveal more about Dreadwolf, and we look forward to discovering what else the future holds.
Gary McKay
General Manager, BioWare
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Jesus what a bunch of corporate garbage right there. Just shoving words in that make it seem like it’s the right thing to do, I freaking hate when companies think we’re so stupid to not see that they’re just laying people off.
Also “an industry that’s quickly evolving”? Uh, welcome to computing I guess? At what point has gaming not been quickly evolving. So much of this is just corporate vomit.
You know how you “ensure Dragon Age™: Dreadwolf is an outstanding game”? You invest in it. EA needs to invest in these games. If you don’t like how long it takes then invest more in them. It’s been now six years since DA:Dreadwolf was announced. It’s been 10 years since DA:Inquisition came out. EA needs to quite with the wining and penny pinching if they want to see profit out of Bioware.
last i checked, it sounded like Bioware’s recent development challenges (Andromeda, Anthem, protracted dev times) came from poor leadership. I remember Jason Schrier’s retrospective highlighted that for most of Anthem’s development, there was no strong guidance from leadership, so the devs were largely just experimenting with dead-end ideas and hoping management would latch on to something and push into that direction.
So these 50 roles we are “eliminating” must be the executives and managers from that period, right? Right?
Corporate talk makes me nauseous…
The layoff includes Mary Kirby, who’s been a core writer in the Dragon Age franchise since the first game. Saw takes that the layoffs are just eliminating multiplayer positions, but that’s not true.
I’ve long suspected that Dreadwolf will make or break BioWare. Since it’s following the same script as Andromeda and Anthem - endless delays, no public progress just lots of b-roll and concept art - I don’t think development is going well. ME: Legacy might have bought BioWare some breathing room but I can’t interpret this as anything other than death throes for the studio.
BioWare is dead, long live Larian and Spiders?
BioWare is dead
We’ve all known this was the case since Inquisition / Andromeda / Anthem, depending on how high your tolerance to bullshit is. Anyone getting hyped for Dreadwolf based on their track record of last 10 years is just setting themselves for disappointment.
Inquisition was a downturn from DA2 but it was nowhere near as bad as Andromeda or Anthem. Dragon Age was the property they had that they hadn’t messed up yet, so if Dreadwolf is bad then we’re down to 0.
Besides the technical issues, everything bad called out for Andromeda was something I had issues with in inquisition. Bland soulless story, repetitive open world, lack of proper villain, lack of complex rpg elements… Having replayed DA1 and even 2 numerous times, I couldn’t bring myself to finish DA:I even once.
It is very subjective but for me inquisition was the tipping point. Even da2 had more soul and redeeming qualities IMHO.
You say “besides the technical issues” as if that was something small enough that you can just casually brush it aside. Andromeda performed like absolute trash when it came out, and that was a huge reason why people panned it.
As for the story reasons you highlight, I don’t agree with most of them personally, but they’re subjective so that’s on you.
The technical state that Andromeda released in is the biggest reason why I consider it an absolutely trash game.
Technical issues can be patched afterwards, and in case of andromeda most were. I played it a year or two after it released when they practically gave it away for $5 on a sale or sth like that. The game still remained a shallow husk of an RPG though with few redeeming qualities besides a somewhat fun combat at times, and this is with me going into it with very low expectations. I’m glad you had more fun with it but I wouldn’t call it a good game even if it didn’t have to compete with its predecessors.
I mean, I knew it from the moment the EA acquisition was announced.
Larian’s entire strategy seems to be to become the new BioWare. Larian basically speedran BioWare’s origin story - releasing a stellar new entry in an old BioWare franchise was more or less an announcement that they are ready for the crown.
Now they need to just not sell out to a soulless greed factory to beat BioWare at their own game. If EA comes knocking the only correct answer is to tell them to fuck off.
The industry is very different than it was when Bioware joined EA. I think these days, smaller devs are more leery of being acquired by the giants. That said, studios like Double Fine and Obsidian saw a value in being acquired, so who knows? Maybe Larian will join EA someday, when the lead designers are ready to cash out.
If they do this, they better realize that they’re siding with corporate greed and betraying those who supported them and bought their games up to that point. Selling out to a greed factory is betrayal, plain and simple. Trading your integrity for greed.
i hear you, but we live in a capitalist world. Dev studios are made up of people, and those people sometimes run out of fuel and want to move on to other adventures. Selling to a large studio is a great way to make that transition, from an individual perspective. Your studio was already going to hand the reins over to the next generation, so why not take the payout? We can’t fault our favorite artists for not wanting to keep making the same thing over and over again for the rest of their lives.
Agree, DA:DW is probably the game that EA is saying “Prove you’re worth it” but then in the same meeting they’re setting them up for failure by cutting funding and making unrealistic demands. This all reaks of review by committee, no one making decisions, no one having a clear goal - and worse is that when someone does it sounds like the business makes sure they’re removed from the picture. They want someone to go with the grain, even if that means a boring, bland, corporate garbage game.
Just give the franchise out to some third party who will actually care about it already. It’s clear EA isn’t willing to invest in it, let someone else do that for them.
With as long as Dreadwolf has been in development, I honestly don’t believe it’s actually coming out. I won’t believe it until it goes on sale.
And even if so do get Dreadwolf, I don’t think we’ll get that next Mass Effect game. BioWare won’t be around that long.
Disgusting corporate speak. I never heard anyone say “oh, we have too many staff to iterate quickly”. BioWare has sucked for quite a while. EA killed it. Absolute tragedy.
I should have listened to cranky young me when he played the first two hours of Dragon Age 2: “BioWare is dead”
Just in case BG3 didn’t illustrate the downfall of Bioware vividly enough, they go ahead and do this.
BG3 is a huge success, no? Or is Bioware not the developer?
Bioware made BG1 and BG2 and other RPGs in a similar vein, but has more recently made games trying to appeal to the mass market and failed miserably (Mass Effect Andromeda and especially Anthem).
The BG name lay dormant for a couple decades until Larian acquired it and released the highly successful BG3. So they are beating Bioware at their own game.
Absolutely agree. Since EA’s sticking-of-fingers into the bullet wounds they inflicted on Bioware, there have been few quality releases and numerous failed moves from the core franchises.
BG3 is a testament to what can happen when some CEO isn’t trying to leech each employee and “consumer” they can find.
Here’s the state of BioWare right here:
Can’t even read the blog post because it’s blocked by Connie preferences and then a dialogue for applying cookie preferences that takes minutes (?!) to run.
Thanks for the archive link.
hehe, noscript to the rescue!
I get angry reading corporate speak.
I doubt that a good game studio can remain good for long after being acquired by EA, Activision, or similar.
Thanks for the fun, BioWare. We’ll miss you.
EA sure does have a lot of weekend at Bernie’s corpses dancing around for years and years tho.
“To make us more Agile, we cut off our toes. Now we will run faster!”
More agile they claim… then in the same statement break a bunch of the agile manifesto ideas like:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools, Responding to change over following a plan