BioWare Insider Speaks Out: "Layoffs Loom, Culture War Shifts Focus Back to Gamers"
A Troubling Update from BioWare
An anonymous employee at BioWare with a lengthy amount of experience at the studio (who I've personally verified), has come forward giving me some seriously alarming insights about the company’s current ...state.
Via their very insightful and detailed message, the whistleblower highlighted big time internal struggles, wildly disappointing sales figures, and a cultural shift aimed at addressing recent failures... With SPECIFIC numbers included. While BioWare has been home to some of the most talented individuals in the industry over the years, it appears that even their best efforts were hindered by systemic issues, poor decision-making, and from the sound of it - unqualified hires that had been placed into leadership positions within the organization.
Sales Fallout: Veilguard Misses the Mark (Shockingly not Shocking)
The insider revealed that BioWare’s latest title, Veilguard, has significantly underperformed. Despite internally their quite ambitious sales target of 10 million copies within the first three months... the game has managed to sell (so far) over 3 million copies. To protect the anonymity, I'll not be giving the specific number, for obvious reasons... But while the number is WAY higher than I think anyone in the know has stated previously, it's still a MASSIVE shortfall from expectations.
This whole situation has now has sparked rumors internally of impending layoffs, casting a dark shadow of uncertainty throughout the office.
"There's rumors around the office that layoffs are on the horizon"
The employee stated, emphasizing their unease gripping the entire team. The failure of Veilguard has prompted deep introspection within the company, as leadership has been enveloped with scrambling to identify and try to address the root causes. It's pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain to figure out why Veilguard sputtered, but the closer you are to the center, apparently, the more blurry that image gets for some...
Taking a step back and thinking about this info is just wild. We've gotten to the point in AAA gaming where a game is now selling well over 3 million copies, and is still considered a massive failure. That... That's not very sustainable.
The New Mass Effect: A Glimmer of Hope or More of the Same?
One of the most intriguing pieces of insight given to me was about the next installment in the Mass Effect series. According to the whistleblower, the project is undergoing “extreme changes” in response to lessons that they had learned from Veilguard’s shortcomings. Internal documents are reportedly using buzzwords like "gamer-focused" to describe the new direction.
While this all sounds promising on the surface to the ever-hopeful BioWare fan, the insider expressed sincere skepticism about whether these changes would actually truly address the concerns of players... or if it's simply just buzzwords to try to keep pushing the same mentality behind the scenes. The transition happening right now inside BioWare is moving toward a more player-centric approach - and it appears to be a reaction to what they describe as "the culture war swinging" indicating that they are working on a potential shift in priorities within the gaming industry at large.
Silenced Voices: The Challenges of Speaking Out at BioWare
The message sent to me also sheds light on a overall concerning atmosphere coming from within the studio. A private chat group, not using company equipment involving (I'm redacting specifics - but more than 10) employees follow my content specifically, among a few other prominent youtubers - and they discuss the content critiquing BioWare's current state and how to try and improve the working conditions from within.
While these brave employees all share the same desire to return the company direction to a player-first philosophy, they unfortunately feel stifled by the current corporate culture.
The whistleblower admitted:
"We're afraid to make our beliefs known around the office"
...reflecting their fear of harsh retaliation for voicing a dissenting opinion. This blackball-styled environment reflects the broader direction of the video game industry at large. It's now hindered the open dialogue throughout the entire BioWare organization as well, completely destroying any kind of innovative problem-solving, leaving many high quality employees extremely frustrated.
The Great Talent at BioWare: A Beacon Amid the Struggles
Despite the turmoil, the whistleblower emphasized that, just like any AAA game company, there really are great people at BioWare who genuinely care about making excellent games for players. Unfortunately, their efforts are often overshadowed by individuals in positions of power enforcing policies that prioritize agendas over gamers’ interests.
At this point, the elephant in the room here is all the ongoing leaks and insider accounts from BioWare. They highlight a much larger issue at play within the entire video game industry: Talented developers are all-too frequently dragged down by poor, unqualified leadership and misguided priorities. DEI in action. While there’s always a sliver of hope that BioWare can course-correct, the reality is, that the layoffs may actually affect the wrong people.
If that is to be the case, BioWare, as a company, is as good as dead.
A Look Ahead: Hoping for a Better 2025
The email ends on a cautiously optimistic note, with the insider expressing hope that 2025 will potentially mark a return to what made gaming great—games that made for the players, not for the ideologies.
The whistleblower wrote:
"Here's hoping 2025 brings games back to being about games"
Their sentiment echoes a growing call within the industry for studios to focus on creating meaningful, engaging experiences rather than chasing trends or appeasing all the unnecessary and frankly bloated external pressures.
A Crossroads for Bioware
Bioware’s challenges serve as a stark reminder about all of the struggles faced by even the once most iconic studios in the gaming industry. With Veilguard’s disappointing sales, rumors of layoffs, and the cultural turmoil within the company, BioWare is at a critical juncture. These next few weeks will absolutely determine the entire future prospects of the company itself.
The email also serves as a testament to the strong resilience and passion of those great people working behind the scenes, often under ridiculous ideological circumstances. It’s clear to me that there are still plenty of talented and dedicated individuals at BioWare who really do want to see their company succeed by putting gamers first. Whether the studio can ACTUALLY rise above its current self-inflicted challenges remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Times are certainly changing.
Hopefully, for the better...
~Smash
" We've gotten to the point in AAA gaming where a game is now selling well over 3 million copies, and is still considered a massive failure. That... That's not very sustainable."
Do you not remember EA saying they have to kill Dead Space if it sells less than 5 millions a decade ago ?
https://www.cinemablend.com/games/EA-Says-Dead-Space-3-Has-Sell-5-Million-Survive-43629.html
I suspect that the "extreme changes" being made are just directives to move all the furniture on the Titanic to make it unsinkable and then to keep sailing, with noses hoisted righteously in the air, straight at that cultural iceberg.
I know there are still WAY too many people who deny that Cultural Marxism is rampaging both across the gaming industry & Western Culture as a whole. (3 million 'Veilguard' copies? That's disturbingly high.)
If you honestly want to know the truth, go find a GenX'er or older who grew up in the Soviet Bloc & TALK to them. Don't browbeat them, really listen to what they have to say.
If you don't know anyone, go find a public figure, like Danie Vavra of Warhorse Studios & look at what he's said. Less than a month into the original Gamergate of 2014, he recognized the kind of Imperialism that was being imposed.
And if you're at least 3 decades old,…
Thank you to the person brave enough to reach out and share this with Smash JT. I appreciate it.