The self-styled Un-Carrier now looks a little more carrier-ish: T-Mobile will soon move some customers on older plans, including two that it still sells, to newer and more expensive plans unless customers call to veto the rate switch.
13 unionized Dragon Age: Dreadwolf QA testers have been laid off
05.10.2023 - 13:53 / techradar.com
Every unionized Dragon Age: Dreadwolf quality assurance (QA) tester has been laid off.
As Polygon reported on October 4, 13 developers who were working on the next Dragon Age game at the QA outsourcing company Keywords Studios on September 27 were let go after Bioware declined to continue its contract with the company in August.
Polygon received confirmation from Liz Corless, Keywords Studios’ global head of marketing, in an email, who said, «We can confirm that regrettably the 13 Edmonton-based staff have now left the business following the end of a fixed-term client contract.»
When they were laid off in late September, it was said that Keywords had “taken the position there is no more work available.”
The QA developers officially joined the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union in June last year — making it the first games industry union in Canada — and were contracted to assist with playtesting and quality assurance at Bioware Edmonton.
Keywords Studios has reportedly offered the 13 laid-off developers «minimal severance» and, in response, the union has filed an employment standards complaint against the studio.
As of writing, the dispute has not been settled and severance has not been paid out.
On August 23, Bioware — best known for some of the best single-player games ever made — laid off about 50 staff members in order to «meet the needs of upcoming projects» and to make the studio «more agile and more focused.»
This followed the announcement from earlier this year that the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic would be moved away from the company to the third-party studio Broadsword Online, in order to focus on the future of Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
Layoffs in the games industry are particularly prevalent right now. Only this week was it reported that Naughty Dog, the studio behind The Last of Us and the Uncharted series, had laid off a number of its contract developers — the majority of them being QA testers.
For more, check out our list of the best single-player games , as well as our round-up of the best PC games of 2023 .
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
techradar.com
11.10.2023 / 12:15
Real-life Stardew Valley concert tour, Festival of Seasons, kicks off globally next year
It’s official — you’ll soon be able to experience the music of Stardew Valley in live orchestral form, as a real-life concert tour is set to kick off next year across the globe.
polygon.com
09.10.2023 / 19:49
CD Projekt Red workers form union after layoffs
Some staff at CD Projekt Red, the Polish developer of Cyberpunk 2077 and the Witcher games, have formed the Polish Gamedev Workers Union in response to recent layoffs at the studio.
techradar.com
09.10.2023 / 11:33
CD Projekt Red devs unionize in the hopes of "improving their workplace" after third set of layoffs in three months
Developers at CD Projekt Red have unionized in response to three waves of repeated layoffs, teaming up with other Polish game developers to form the Polish Gamedev Workers Union. The new union is an independent section of Inicjatywa Pracownicza (OZZ IP), otherwise known as the Polish Trade Union Workers Initiative — a group that represents Polish workers across a wide range of industries (via Eurogamer).
gamesindustry.biz
09.10.2023 / 10:47
CD Projekt staff form union for Polish developers
Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox
pcgamesinsider.biz
09.10.2023 / 10:13
Staff at Cyberpunk maker CD Projekt forming union
Workers at Polish games maker CD Projekt are in the process of forming a union.
pcgamesn.com
07.10.2023 / 12:15
Staff at Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher studio CD Projekt forming a union
Staff at Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt are forming a union in an effort to represent and provide a voice for “all Polish gamedev workers” while improving industry conditions, after around 9% of the company’s development studio CD Projekt Red were laid off earlier this year.
rockpapershotgun.com
06.10.2023 / 21:05
Canada's first ever unionised game staff, working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, have all been fired
Just last year, QA contractors working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf voted unanimously to become Canada’s first-ever video game industry union. Now, sadly, the Keyword Studios employees working on the RPG have all been laid off after developer BioWare decided not to renew their contract.
gameranx.com
05.10.2023 / 16:21
Unionized QA Workers Working On Dragon Age Dreadwolf Laid Off
Right now in the world, unions are either rising up or striking to get better deals, wages, and lives for their members, and that’s a good thing despite the industries they’re “hurting.” Unions have long been around to protect the “working man” and to ensure they are safe and well-fed, and if that means striking, then so be it. One of the few industries that doesn’t have an overall union is the video game industry. That’s partially understandable due to game developers and companies’ “spread out” nature. But the company behind Dragon Age Dreadwolf made a pretty clear message to those within a union by firing a bunch of them!
gamesradar.com
05.10.2023 / 11:05
Dragon Age Dreadwolf dev lays off all unionized QA workers
All unionized Dragon Age Dreadwolf QA testers have been laid off.
thegamer.com
05.10.2023 / 10:57
Dragon Age: Dreadwolf's Unionised Devs Have Been Laid Off
Last year, all 16 of the QA devs at Keywords Studios Edmonton held a unanimous and historic vote to become the first games industry union in Canada. Unfortunately, just over one year later, they were laid off.
pcgamesinsider.biz
05.10.2023 / 10:45
Unionised Keywords BioWare workers have been laid off
Games services company Keywords Studios has made all of the unionised quality assurance staff working at BioWare redundant.