BioWare recently announced a company restructure in the wake of Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s release, with a blog post enthusing about the future direction of the studio, and what’s needed to begin production of the long-awaited Mass Effect 5. While the post avoided noting layoffs explicitly, later reports revealed a number of staff had lost their jobs or been otherwise reassigned, with many tenured employees taking to social media to reveal redundancies.
Now, in the wake of these posts, Bloomberg is reporting that BioWare has seemingly been cut in half by these layoffs, with fewer than 100 employees now remaining at the studio. That’s down from around 200 at the peak of development on Dragon Age: The Veilguard, two years ago, and even further from the studios’ past 300+ strong peak.
Notably, Bloomberg has also reported that some employees who were temporarily on “loan” to other EA studios have now been shifted permanently, as the next Mass Effect does not need a full studio team, for now.
Those BioWare employees who have been transferred to other departments within EA are reportedly working on an array of new projects, including Skate and Iron Man, and it appears they’ll remain with these teams even as early plans for Mass Effect shape up.
Read: BioWare has been restructured, as focus shifts to Mass Effect 5
Per Bloomberg, those who were transferred were allegedly told if they wanted to work at BioWare again, they would need to keep an eye on upcoming job openings.
What’s next for BioWare?
The reality is good games need talented people working behind the scenes, and with a significant portion of BioWare’s original staff now reportedly laid off, or distributed amongst other EA studios, upcoming projects have lost much-needed veteran voices.
Notably, many of the staff reporting their layoffs on social media also have a background in narrative – which, arguably, is the expertise BioWare is most known for.
What the future for the studio looks like, beyond this restructuring, is currently unclear. Per general manager Gary McKay, the team will continue to develop the new Mass Effect with a “fierce commitment to innovating” and to “think deeply about delivering the best experience to [its] fans.” But with the studio now reportedly split up, it’s hard to see what its next steps look like.
For now, Bioware aims to become “a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs” and it will seemingly do so with a significantly reduced staff. You can read more about the reported changes at the studio via Bloomberg.