Not to take a victory lap here, but hey - as I reported previously what was going to happen, based on insights from my insider, Electronic Arts has begun officially announcing a significant restructuring at BioWare. The very same flailing and failing BioWare behind the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series. Moving forward, BioWare now plans on focusing entirely on its upcoming Mass Effect game, with many developers being reassigned to other projects throughout all of EA, while others are may be potentially let go, due to redundancy.
In a blog post from BioWare General Manager Gary McKay, BioWare tried their best to explain that they are somehow going to be:
"taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare."
With Dragon Age: The Veilguard now released and officially a flop, the next Mass Effect is now in active development under the leadership of some of the veteran devs from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley.
However, as predicted - this "transition" means that a portion of the studio’s workforce is no longer required... and layoffs may be happening right now. McKay stated:
"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."
While EA has (of course) not disclosed exact numbers, some employees from BioWare have been placed into new roles within the company. Others, particularly from the Dragon Age team, have now potentially seen their positions eliminated entirely due to redundancy.
The statement is worded in a way where it makes it look like BioWare hasn't let anyone go, but it strikes me as eerily suspicious how they tip toe around that verbiage so delicately... Almost feels like they are going out of their way to move current employees to other areas, before ultimately conveniently doing a massive layoff anyway. Time will tell.
BioWare’s Ongoing Structural Shifts
This latest restructuring follows several years of major internal changes at BioWare. The studio underwent a round of layoffs in 2023 and following that, saw multiple high-profile departures during the development of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Most recently, the story broken by @Grummz and Smash JT regarding how the Dragon Age director Corinne Busche announced his exit from BioWare just last week... Stating it was his choice to leave, but seeing what's trans....piring now, clearly, the writing was on the wall.
The Future of Mass Effect and BioWare’s Single-Project Focus
The next Mass Effect was first announced four years ago, and it somehow still remains in early development. BioWare has now adopted a strategy of prioritizing one game at a time. Some developers previously working on Mass Effect were reassigned to help bring Dragon Age to completion and are now returning to the sci-fi RPG franchise... Which in hindsight, probably wasn't the best idea.
Despite this shift, concerns continue to loom over BioWare’s future. Last week, EA revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperformed, missing its player engagement targets by nearly 50%. This shortfall, alongside the weaker-than-expected performance from EA Sports FC 25, prompted the company to reduce their financial outlook for the entire fiscal year.
EA’s Q3 earnings call is scheduled for February 4, where further details on BioWare’s restructuring and the company’s broader financial outlook will most likely emerge. Per my insider, that is potentially shaping up to be... a day of reckoning for all of EA. With an internal rumor swirling around BioWare that the entire Edmonton office may be closed down at that time. My insider is extremely concerned about their own job moving forward, and honestly, seeing what's transpiring here, who could blame them?
~Smash
EA should just close them down. They've destroyed much better studios for less.
I have no doubt that BioWare will not learn the lesson and make ME woke as can be.