Rumor - Bioware Layoffs

[Phynaz]

George Bruossard tweeted there's a rumor about 200 people getting let go from Bioware.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Confirmed that there are some layoffs, but that's normal for after a large project like SWTOR ships. They don't need the huge development team for ongoing maintenance and expansions.

Edit: copied from a post in the ArsTecnhica SWTOR thread: http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/05/22/star-wars-the-old-republic-hit-with-layoffs/

 

[Nintendesert]

Everyone would want to herald this as a bad thing, but after such a massive project it's natural to trim down to long term operating numbers.

 

[Via]

I thought that was normal in this industry; workers get laid off all the time so they can collect unemployment until their next project starts.

 

[frozentundra123456]

George Bruossard tweeted there's a rumor about 200 people getting let go from Bioware.

I hope one of them is whoever wrote the ending to ME3!!!! Edit: Wait, how about the entire Dragon Age II team also. And how about whoever turned KOTOR into an MMO. Wow, I used to love Bioware, not so any more.

 

[Wreckem]

The gaming industry offers very little stability for game devs.

When a game is finished, its extremely common for 90% or more of the team to be let go. I honestly believe this is why a lot of games get delayed. Devs know they are going to get the axe once the game ships. They dont have the motivation to finish on time.

 

[kami]

The gaming industry offers very little stability for game devs.

When a game is finished, its extremely common for 90% or more of the team to be let go. I honestly believe this is why a lot of games get delayed. Devs know they are going to get the axe once the game ships. They dont have the motivation to finish on time.

No. Trust me, the devs want the crunch to end more than anything. I was in the industry for 6 years and left because the hours ruined me, physically and mentally.

Layoffs for SWTOR were expected but I'm guessing it's worse than they originally planned since the game wasn't as successful as they had hoped.

 

[Wreckem]

No. Trust me, the devs want the crunch to end more than anything. I was in the industry for 6 years and left because the hours ruined me, physically and mentally.

Layoffs for SWTOR were expected but I'm guessing it's worse than they originally planned since the game wasn't as successful as they had hoped.

They milk pre crunch development im sure.

That said game devs really need a union. They get used and abused for fairly low wages. Profit sharing/bonuses like the people at Infinity Ward sorta got are extremely are.

 

[KaOTiK]

I'm surprised they weren't let go sooner in all honesty.

 

[blastingcap]

There are only so many hours in a day, and only so many potential gamers out there, and only so many MMO games can thrive once you achieve saturation. I feel like we've hit that point in N. America and possibly beyond.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I hope one of them is whoever wrote the ending to ME3!!!! Edit: Wait, how about the entire Dragon Age II team also. And how about whoever turned KOTOR into an MMO. Wow, I used to love Bioware, not so any more.

People who ruin games generally don't get axed, sadly.

 

[darkewaffle]

Layoffs for SWTOR were expected but I'm guessing it's worse than they originally planned since the game wasn't as successful as they had hoped.

In what way?

 

[Red Storm]

In what way?

Didn't they just recently lose around 1/4 of their active subscriber playerbase?

 

[Nintendesert]

Didn't they just recently lose around 1/4 of their active subscriber playerbase?

All MMOs lose a high % of players after the first free month is gone.

 

[PricklyPete]

To be honest...I don't know how anyone would want to be a software developer in the game industry. They soak up young talent, treat them like shit, and then dump them when they are done. It is definitely a job of passion.

 

[darkewaffle]

Didn't they just recently lose around 1/4 of their active subscriber playerbase?

That's the 'high profile' MMO life cycle. High interest spike at release, the following 6 months or so see players shed (usually in higher percentages actually) as the 'short term' players move on for various reasons, and then the following 6-18 months usually exhibit a stabilization process of sorts. Age of Conan, Rift, Warhammer Online, and Aion all exhibited roughly the same trend.

WoW is the anomaly really because it essentially 'created' the high profile MMO market, as prior to WoW the only truly 'big' games were essentially Runescape and Lineage which aren't even in the same ballpark.

 

[Lotheron]

That's the 'high profile' MMO life cycle. High interest spike at release, the following 6 months or so see players shed (usually in higher percentages actually) as the 'short term' players move on for various reasons, and then the following 6-18 months usually exhibit a stabilization process of sorts. Age of Conan, Rift, Warhammer Online, and Aion all exhibited roughly the same trend.

WoW is the anomaly really because it essentially 'created' the high profile MMO market, as prior to WoW the only truly 'big' games were essentially Runescape and Lineage which aren't even in the same ballpark.

That is only the "High Profile" cycle because games are not living up to the hype. If the game was in a state where people would want to play it and keep playing it, they would.

People stop playing not because of the Free month is over, but because they don't want to play the game. If game companies would stop rehashing the same product over and over again and come up with someone new and revolutionary rather than evolutionary, perhaps we'd get another MMO that had some staying power.

As it was, SWTOR was just another rehashed WOW clone, much life RIFT and others. Gamers can only play WoW for so long before they start to look at something different. They get sucked into the hype that perhaps whatever new game comes out is "totally different" only to find that it's basically the same game in a new world.

 

[troy10]

After playing the beta I played until lvl 10 and uninstalled. Got tired of the theme park areas, and the same ole WoW feeling. I'll probably never touch another MMO again.

 

[darkewaffle]

That is only the "High Profile" cycle because games are not living up to the hype. If the game was in a state where people would want to play it and keep playing it, they would.

People stop playing not because of the Free month is over, but because they don't want to play the game. If game companies would stop rehashing the same product over and over again and come up with someone new and revolutionary rather than evolutionary, perhaps we'd get another MMO that had some staying power.

As it was, SWTOR was just another rehashed WOW clone, much life RIFT and others. Gamers can only play WoW for so long before they start to look at something different. They get sucked into the hype that perhaps whatever new game comes out is "totally different" only to find that it's basically the same game in a new world.

People are still playing it, quite a lot of them really. By all accounts there's still well over a million active accounts which puts SWTOR in the position of "Second most popular subscription based game". Expecting any online game to keep all it's players from launch is simply unrealistic.

Hardly any game can live up to 'the hype' anymore in media system where yellow journalism is making such a comeback. Every major MMO is touted as "the WoW-killer" and "the next big thing" with "revolutionary ideas" and a "brand new perspective" and this and that and the other thing. Regardless of whether any of it is true or not, that's what gets printed because it grabs attention. SWTOR delivered on what it promised, a solid MMO with an unprecedented presence of story backing up many of the traditional MMO mechanics.

Some people wanted SWGv2 out of SWTOR, some people wanted WoW with light sabers, some people wanted DAOC in space, some people wanted KOTOR3, some people wanted it to be like EVE, some people wanted something completely and utterly new.

But that's precisely why these kind of dropoffs happen. You have all these people interested in the game, who give it a try, and inevitably it's not going to be what they all want. It's simply impossible.

So you have this influx of people; some people leave because they didn't get SWG crafting, because they didn't get WoW timesinks, because they didn't get DAOC PVP, because they didn't get a KOTOR story, because they didn't get EVE structure, or because it is designed to feel 'familiar' right off the bat. Some leave because they hit 50 and to them they've beaten the game, some leave because they simply don't want to pay for two subscriptions at once, some leave because they don't want a subscription at all and the free month is enough for them, some leave because the new content didn't come fast enough for them, some leave for Tera or GW2 or D3. Some people just like Star Wars and find out they're not interested in the whole MMO scene.

All of this adds up, affects every game in it's own way, and frankly has little to do with the actual quality of the game itself.

 

[kami]

They milk pre crunch development im sure.

That said game devs really need a union. They get used and abused for fairly low wages. Profit sharing/bonuses like the people at Infinity Ward sorta got are extremely are.

If by milk you mean work an average 40-50 hour week like they are paid for, then yes.

Unions would never work because if game devs were paid what they are actually owed game budgets would go through the roof, and games would cost a lot more for the consumer. I'm sure the average game player is sympathetic to overworked and underpaid devs but once it starts making them have to pay an extra 25 dollars per game they would suddenly be less sympathetic.

The industry is broken and the reason it doesn't get fixed is there is a constant, steady stream of young people coming out of school wanting to live their dream. That is why they can get away with it. You don't like it? Fine, then leave. There's a line up of kids behind you willing to do the same work for even less.

 

[Barfo]

Bioware exists in name only now.

 

[clok1966]

SWO is going the way of all non F2P games that are not named WoW*.. the great $15 a month golden goose is long gone.. and the people that still think SW has the rabid fanbase it once had are also .. deluded.. The Hardcore SW fanbase is getting old.. it was orginaly released in 77! And whiel the "new" movies hold a fanbase too.. its nothing like the originals.. most of those people have grown up and are not sitting in front of the PC.. Banked on SW IP a bit to much. The are currenlty carfull to quote 1.2 million active accounts.. but if you log into most any server (yes my account is still active) they are ghost towns. Rember the last 5-6 premium Pay 2 Play all started around 1.1 to 1 million accounts too.. none .. and I mean NONE have half of that now.. Willing to bet by the first snow SWo is very close to that half million too.

as for the layoffs.. I would suspect they expected some.. 200? i doubt it.

*in no way am i saying WoW is good or bad

 

[Iron Wolf]

After playing the beta I played until lvl 10 and uninstalled. Got tired of the theme park areas, and the same ole WoW feeling. I'll probably never touch another MMO again.

I like theme park games, and I realized after a while that one of the things I really like about this game is that I was able to just jump in and play it and feel comfortable without a learning curve. GW2, in contrast, feels a lot more foreign to me, even having played GW1 many years ago.

That said, I think this game would have been more awesome as a SP rather than MP game, and also had more than just three choices (class, AC, and skill tree) for character customization.

I'm really enjoying the campaign, but part of the problem is there is no replayablility and nothing else to do after you have run chars through each of the imp and rep quest lines.

 

[surfsatwerk]

You screwed me on KoToR and you screwed me with Mass Effect. Whole thing can burn.

 

[Red Storm]

You screwed me on KoToR and you screwed me with Mass Effect. Whole thing can burn.

And Dragon Age.