With development on Dragon Age: The Relentless Wolf in full swing and Mass Effect 5 must have begun one way or another, the timing of such an announcement seems frankly surprising, even if it takes remember that the parent company Electronic Arts announced last March its intention to part with 800 employees as part of a major restructuring.
“Balancing the studio’s current needs”
As often in such cases, the justification for these layoffs rings false in view of EA’s fabulous results, Gary McKay speaking of ” maintain the highest standard of quality », of a « rapidly changing industry » and the need to become « a more agile and focused studio “, can we read. These workforce reductions allow our developers to iterate quickly, unlock more creativity, and have a clear view of what we’re building before development ramps up “, continues Gary McKay. Nothing very pleasant to read for the workers concerned.
That said, these layoffs may also stem from a strategy that many gamers themselves have been asking for: as Gary McKay reminds us, the next Dragon Age and the next Mass Effect will be single-player RPGs and not games- long-term services that require more staff once the base game is released. Concretely, Electronic Arts therefore estimated that BioWare did not need as many employees to develop the type of games that it currently develops. Incidentally, after more than 12 years at the bedside of Star Wars: The Old Republic, it was recently confirmed that BioWare Austin would let another studio (Broadsword Online Games) take care of the MMO.
” After careful thought and planning, we’ve built a long-term vision that will keep the studio healthy and allow us to do better what we do best: create exceptional story-driven single-player experiences filled with expansive worlds and rich characters. . This vision balances the studio’s current needs to ensure that Dragon Age: Relentless Wolf is an exceptional game, just like the next Mass Effect. “explains Gary McKay. The latter ensures that nothing changes regarding the ambitions of the next Dragon Age or its release window, which has not yet been communicated to the public.