BioWare Loses More Than Half Its Workforce Amidst EA Layoffs
|
|
Key points
- BioWare studio faced massive staff reductions.
- The studio now staffs less than 100 workers.
- Layoffs were part of EA’s restructuring efforts.
According to Bloomberg, Bioware’s workforce shrank to less than 100 employees following EA’s layoffs and restructuring. This follows EA’s efforts to more efficiently prepare for future strong performing titles, such as Battlefield.
BioWare Studio’s most popular games include the Mass Effect series alongside the Dragon Age franchise, earning a strong reputation for their world building and story telling.
During Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s development, BioWare Studio housed over 200 employees, with a peak employment figure of over 400 people. The staff reductions represent more than a 50% cut to the studio – a decision likely made after Veilguard’s poor sales performance.
Not every developer was directly laid off. Many members of BioWare were moved to other EA studios while the next Mass-Effect was being developed. But after Veilgaurd’s poor sales figures, EA committed to keeping the developers away from BioWare, reportedly laying off 20+ members thereafter.
PC gamer dives further into the layoff stats, taking into consideration various publicly available figures.
“These numbers come from three different points in the 2010s and don’t fully differentiate who was where and when, but even conservatively, I think we can estimate that peak BioWare was around 400-500 employees strong for much of the last decade,” they stated.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard sold around 1.2 million copies within the first two months of release, which is 50% lower than EA’s projected amount. The game’s previous installment, Dragon Age: Origins, sold 3.2 million copies in 2010, while Dragon Age: Inquisition sold over 12 million copies by September 2024.
