BioWare Restructures And Downsizes To Become A ‘More Focused’ Studio

August 24, 2023 Marc Marasigan Comments

BioWare will be joining the growing list of development studios and publishers that have undergone some form of restructuring to better cope with the economic challenges being faced by the video game industry. According to General Manager Gary McKay, restructuring will allow them to become a “more agile and focused” studio but will unfortunately require them to layoff several of their employees.

“[…] We find ourselves in a position where change is not only necessary, but unavoidable,” said McKay. “As difficult as this is to say, rethinking our approach to development inevitably means reorganizing our team to match the studio’s changing needs. As part of this transition, we are eliminating approximately 50 roles at BioWare.”

Going forward, the studio will be focusing on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, which McKay says they remain dedicated to, and development of the next game in the Mass Effect series. As for the affected employees, McKay says that they’re trying to shuffle as many of them as they can into other studios within the Electronic Arts umbrella.

BioWare’s decision to pawn of Star Wars The Old Republic to Broadsword might also be part of the studio’s restructuring plans. Broadsword officially took over development of the Star Wars MMORPG and absorbed a large chunk of its development team into their studio late last month.

With Star Wars The Old Republic now in the hands of Broadsword, the game will presumably be unaffected by any impending changes at BioWare.