EA has announced that it is restructuring BioWare as development around Mass Effect ramps up at the studio. EA says that a number of developers are being moved to other projects within EA, some devs are focusing entirely on Mass Effect, and some staff are being let go. Well, EA didn’t confirm the layoffs, but a report from IGN has.
IGN reports that a number of developers who worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard have seen their roles terminated as a result of the studio change. However, these staff have been given the opportunity to apply for new positions elsewhere in the company if they choose.
BioWare says that the core team at BioWare is now developing the next Mass Effect game under new leadership. These leaders include veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others. However, the studio says that given the current state of development, the full workforce at BioWare isn’t needed.
“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.”
We don’t know what else EA is cooking up for gamers at the moment. We know BioWare is working on Mass Effect, and Respawn is currently developing a new Battlefield game. However, the company’s release schedule hasn’t been the strongest of late.
EA confirmed that its latest release, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, didn’t meet its expectations. The game reportedly only engaged “half of the expected players”. EA hasn’t commented on the exact sales figures for the game.