BioWare, the studio behind Dragon Age and Mass Effect, has reportedly been hit with layoffs and relocations, downsizing to less than half of its size from two years ago. The developer is said to have laid off over 20 employees and permanently moved several others to different teams across parent company Electronic Arts. The development follows a studio update from BioWare last week that said it was shifting its focus to the next Mass Effect title and had matched a number of its staffers to other teams at EA over the past few months.
Layoffs at BioWare
According to a Bloomberg report published Friday, dozens of BioWare employees, who were initially “loaned out” to other teams at EA after the launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, were informed last week that their moves were now permanent. The loaned-out staffers were no longer BioWare employees, the report claimed, citing people aware of the matter, and were instead absorbed at the EA studios they had been shifted to.
The reorganisation effort also saw “around two dozen” other BioWare employees laid off, the report said. With the permanent relocations and job cuts, BioWare has now reportedly been downsized to less than 100 employees; the studio was over 200-people strong in 2023.
In a studio update shared last week following the reorganisation, BioWare general manager Gary McKay said a core team at the company was now developing the next Mass Effect title under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others. McKay said the studio would reassess its work processes between full development cycles for games.
“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,” McKay said in the update posted on the studio’s website.
“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.”
On Monday, Gamble, who is leading the team working on the next Mass Effect, confirmed that the game was still in pre-production phase.
The reorganisation at BioWare comes after EA said Dragon Age: The Veilguard fell short of sales expectations.
