Bioware Is “Downsizing” As It Transitions To Mass Effect 5

For a certain period of time, Bioware was praised as one of the best video game creators in the world. Its work on certain RPG franchises, both of the fantastical and sci-fi genres, was so grand that others felt they needed to take notes from them and try to mimic what they’d done. However, as long-time fans know, once a certain trilogy ended, things slowly went off the rails. It was so bad that the company looks almost nothing like it did in those “prime years,” and that’s made many fans nervous about what awaits Mass Effect 5. To that end, there’s some good news…and a lot of bad news.

The good news is that in a new blog post, Bioware reaffirmed that Mass Effect 5 is the company’s focus. This message came from general manager Gary McKay, who also confirmed the bad news: layoffs. Specifically, he claimed the team was “downsizing” due to “not needing the full studio” to make the 5th entry:

“Now that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been released, a core team at BioWare is developing the next Mass Effect game under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others.

Given this stage of development, we don’t require support from the full studio. We have incredible talent here at BioWare, and so we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit.”

That’s a very interesting way of saying that people are losing their jobs, but “we shouldn’t worry about it.” That notion is backed up by a separate report from IGN, which stated that some of the people losing their jobs are those from the Dragon Age The Veilguard team.

This speaks volumes because while it’s true that Bioware is “between development cycles,” you’d think that it would just take some of its team and put them on a different new project. However, after the incredibly lackluster release of its fantasy RPG, which they’re so disappointed in that we haven’t gotten a straight answer as to how much it’s sold, it might just be that the company will only work on one game for the immediate future to try and “salvage its reputation.”

Or, as McKay put it:

“Today’s news will see BioWare become a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs. We appreciate your support as we build a new future for BioWare.”