BioWare lays off about 50 people in the pursuit of being "agile" and "focused"

In the world of mobile gaming, a perfect controller can be hard to come by. Even with our personal favourite, the Backbone One, it can feel like you need to make compromises on comfort and accuracy, particularly if you have larger hands or want to take part in longer sessions. You can always connect a regular gamepad via Bluetooth, but if you don't have a good way to set your phone up as a display or there are connection issues, this isn't a perfect fit either. 

Developer Blackbird Interactive has announced that it has laid off more than 40 employees. The layoffs come in light of several of the studio’s upcoming projects getting cancelled. The layoffs came to light thanks to a post on LinkedIn by former technical artist at Blackbird Interactive James Marshall, who revealed that more than 40 people were laid off from the studio. A spokesperson for the studio released a statement, according to IGN, confirming that 41 employees were let go.

Some unfortunate news from Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare: the studios has announced that it'll be «eliminating approximately 50 roles», in an attempt to reshape the company for the better.

BioWare recently announced that it will be letting go of around 50 employees in a fresh round of layoffs, as it looks to become a more “agile” studio, and as it turns out, the list of people who’ll be departing the company as a result includes quite a few notable ones.

As part of its recently publicised cutbacks, BioWare has «let go of» Lukas Kristjanson, the lead writer behind Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, and the writer of the first three Dragon Age games, Mary Kirby.

BioWare writer Lukas Kristjanson, who has worked at the studio for more than 25 years, has been laid off. This comes as 50 developers lose their jobs at BioWare, despite having at least two huge games in development: Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 5.

BioWare is laying off 50 employees, studio manager Gary McKay announced yesterday. No mention of what roles were being made redundant was made at the time, only that the studio's «commitment remains steadfast» when it comes to the upcoming Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. That's hard to believe now, in light of the fact that writer Mary Kirby, who gave the world the hairy-chested Varric, is among those looking for new employment. 

Yesterday's BioWare studio update left fans of the studio feeling very anxious about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. BioWare General Manager Gary McKay tried to assure the public that the layoffs of 50 employees wouldn't meaningfully affect the final development stretch of the fourth mainline installment in the Dragon Age series, but his words rang a bit hollow among the community.

Maintaining relevancy and longevity is one of the hardest things to do in the video game industry. As weird as it is to say, it’s “easy” to make a good game if you follow certain principles and know what you’re doing. That’s why the indie game market is full of up-and-coming teams and talents primed to take over. But what’s hard is to make great games consistently and profit from them, especially with the rising cost of titles and the increased call for quality. Bioware was a developer who once dominated the industry, and now they’re very far from the point in their history.

BioWare is a large studio known for titles such as Mass Effect: Andromeda and Dragon Age: Inquisition. It appears that all is not well at the studio, as on August 23, it announced that it is “eliminating approximately 50 roles.”

Dragon Age and Mass Effect’s storied developer BioWare have laid off around 50 employees, including veteran devs who had been with the company for 20 years, in what they call a “shift towards a more agile and more focused studio.” The reasoning behind the job cuts has a now-rote focus on efficiency that sadly echoes other redundancy announcements from this year - including ones from other widely admired studios like Firaxis and CD Projekt Red.

Ahead of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, BioWare announces it’s laying off 50 employees, including a writer who’s worked on every single Dragon Age game. It describes the layoffs as “necessary, but unavoidable” and insists the development of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf (and the next Mass Effect game) is still on course.