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[Draugoth]

But at least they got to keep their jobs. During the same reorganization this week, around two dozen other people at BioWare were laid off, according to the people familiar, who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information. Writer Trick Weekes and producer Jen Cheverie said on Bluesky that they were among the veteran workers who’d been cut.

BioWare is now down from more than 200 people two years ago to less than 100 today, according to the people familiar. A small team will remain to work on the next Mass Effect game — led by company veterans who oversaw the development on the original trilogy as well as on 2019’s Anthem — in hopes of expanding as the game gets further into production.

The company announced the reorganization on Wednesday, saying it planned to “become a more agile, focused studio,” without mentioning the job cuts and the relocation of staff permanently to other studios. A spokesperson for EA declined to comment on specific numbers.

Info is via Bloomberg,​

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

How does a game with Mass Effect's scope work with that kind of skeleton crew. I realize 100 people is 100 people, but that's uh... yeah.

I'm betting they just kill it altogether in the next several months.

 

[Thief1987]

Author of this article celebrated chud's own with DA success just a couple of months ago. What happened?

 

[Mister Wolf]

Cut the fat. Let it be a lesson to any other developer that thinks "chud owning" is a smart business move.

 

[ReBurn]

How does a game with Mass Effect's scope work with that kind of skeleton crew. I realize 100 people is 100 people, but that's uh... yeah.

I'm betting they just kill it altogether in the next several months.

It says it in the OP

in hopes of expanding as the game gets further into production

They will staff up more when they need to.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I guess they have contracts. But..oh no anyway

 

[R3TRO]

Sheesh…They’re done

 

[Dazraell]

Author of this article celebrated chud's own with DA success just a couple of months ago. What happened?

Reality happened

 

[MALpractice311]

Jesus. I really thought ME5 was further along in development. This sounds like they've barely started.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[DeepEnigma]

Are we owning the Chubs yet, weasel?

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

It says it in the OP



They will staff up more when they need to.

Well, sure, that's what they're saying... but the team has halved in a short span, so ramping back up again with the timelines they probably have for this game seems really improbable. Even if they're fairly early on in development, that's a small team for this type of project, particularly when you factor in the inefficiency that AAAs can't shake.

 

[Sanepar]

How does a game with Mass Effect's scope work with that kind of skeleton crew. I realize 100 people is 100 people, but that's uh... yeah.

I'm betting they just kill it altogether in the next several months.

They will hire normal devs now.

 

[Firestartah]

Sheesh…They’re done

On the contrary, let Mike Gamble and Preston Watamaniuk cook. They just fired/moved the woke degenerates. Now the new Mass Effect has a chance of being good.

 

[AzekZero]

I know most big games start with small teams in pre-production, but I assumed ME5 was further down the pipeline.

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[Seyken]

Apparently we have real time footage of Jason Schreier writing this article and thinking about all the owned chuds:

 

[ReBurn]

Well, sure, that's what they're saying... but the team has halved in a short span, so ramping back up again with the timelines they probably have for this game seems really improbable. Even if they're fairly early on in development, that's a small team for this type of project, particularly when you factor in the inefficiency that AAAs can't shake.

I imagine the timeline is still 5 years out. EA has lots of developers. They'll find them somewhere.

 

[Rheon]

 

[DeepEnigma]

And Jade Empire

 

[VenomousCoffee]

Well, I'll always have the OT. *cues up Uncharted Worlds*

 

[PeteBull]

 

[Kacho]

 

[Lord Panda]

Wish Bloomberg was one fewer 'journalist'.

 

[Hookshot]

Wasn't ME 5 announced a few years back? I guess it's still in early development if now only 100 people are working on it.

 

[Banjo64]

How does a game with Mass Effect's scope work with that kind of skeleton crew. I realize 100 people is 100 people, but that's uh... yeah.

I'm betting they just kill it altogether in the next several months.

100 people is enough to make a GOTG contender easily.

100 people working at Bioware? Probably not.

 

[Kacho]

Wasn't ME 5 announced a few years back? I guess it's still in early development if now only 100 people are working on it.

I dunno. Part of me thinks it got rebooted after Veilguard flopped.

Right after Veilguard dropped, someone at BioWare was on Twitter running damage control for ME5. Something like "our writing won't suck, guys. it's going to be super mature, I swear."

 

[Humdinger]

I thought it was a couple dozen. Turns out it was more like 100. Sounds like a 50% reduction over the past couple years.

Well, let's hope they got rid of the nonsense and retained some of the talent. I'm not holding out much hope for ME5 to be brilliant, but I'd love to be surprised. Sounds like a long ways off, though.

 

[W11d]

If you make games at least pretend that you don't hate gamers

 

[Perrott]

How does a game with Mass Effect's scope work with that kind of skeleton crew. I realize 100 people is 100 people, but that's uh... yeah.

I'm betting they just kill it altogether in the next several months.

They're in pre-production and without much of a game to work on. That's how those kind of numbers actually do work for them right now.

 

[Hookshot]

I dunno. Part of me thinks it got rebooted after Veilguard flopped.

Right after Veilguard dropped, someone at BioWare was on Twitter running damage control for ME5. Something like "our writing won't suck, guys. it's going to be super mature, I swear."

Reboot or not I just hope that each time I set foot on a space station someone sits me down to complain that their mother misgenders them.

 

[Thief1987]

Wasn't ME 5 announced a few years back? I guess it's still in early development if now only 100 people are working on it.

In recent interview Darrah said that they are still in pre-production.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Nature is healing. I hate that it had to be BioWare that got murdered by the free market but enough is enough.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Why do they still put woke in the game when they are getting destroyed by the same decision in the past?

Everybody thought woke would last forever and there would never be pushback. Didn't Schreier recently imply that being woke doesn't affect game sales all that much? Think of how crazy that sounds now.

Schreier was wrong IMHO and I'd love for him to admit it. Otherwise all these stupid companies will believe an incorrect assumption and keep putting out woke games and going broke. He is such a smart guy and I'm a dumb shit rando but in this case I'm right and he is wrong. Stop perpetuating that woke doesn't cause games to sell less. It DOES cause them to sell less. It is common sense. Do we no longer have common sense?

If there is a group who does not care about woke and another group hates woke, you will sell less because at least a few of the people who hate woke will not buy it. This is not a crazy assumption. If no woke is involved, everyone is free to buy it without a filter.

 

[Luipadre]

Yeah dont wait for the new ME guys, its not happening

 

[Metnut]

Cut out the rot and rebuild. Haven’t been this hopeful about the next Mass Effect in years.

 

[Thief1987]

But many observers and staff blame EA for the situation they put BioWare in — canceling an early version of Dragon Age in favor of one that would be required to have a "live-service" multiplayer component with recurring revenue, only to then reverse course, reverting once again back to the single-player format. It would be difficult for most game-makers to release something great under those conditions.

Damn suits ruined the game, return purple-haired freaks back and give them another chance

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Shut down the studio

 

[viveks86]

I dunno. Part of me thinks it got rebooted after Veilguard flopped.

Right after Veilguard dropped, someone at BioWare was on Twitter running damage control for ME5. Something like "our writing won't suck, guys. it's going to be super mature, I swear."

Bingo!

 

[cormack12]

They/them must be thrilled.

 

[thefool]

100 too many

 

[Skifi28]

What happened?

A rare incel victory.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Good hope the whole company gets wiped out.

 

[vagabond-]

next time be a man and dont delete your shit on twitter jason lmao

 

[Shaki12345]

No game ever topped the feelings I had while playing through the Mass Effect Trilogy.

Thinking about the music almost brings me to tears.

 

[Raven117]

Decisions have consequences.

 

[ungalo]

Wasn't ME 5 announced a few years back? I guess it's still in early development if now only 100 people are working on it.

it was still in pre production not long ago i believe

 

[ZehDon]

I feel sorry for the developers who lost their jobs. Being unemployed is rough - doubly so in this economy. It's the nature of the business, sure, but I really do hope EA has taken care of them and they land on their feet somewhere else.

Not a fan of Schreier, though, and his "insight" when he's not quoting someone sits alonside Michael Pachter at this point. With that said, this tweet of his has become one of my favourite tweets of all time:

I look forward to more of his valuable input in 2025.

 

[Fortress of Regrets]

Oh no, anyway...

 

[Silver Wattle]

I liked ME1 better than 2 or 3, never even bothered with Andromeda, so to me each new game was worse than the previous.