There is really no getting around the fact that BioWare is in dire straits at the moment, now at the end of a decade of three missed opportunities to create new classic RPGs. Now, a new report from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg says that after layoffs and permanent transfers to other EA studios, BioWare is now down to less than 100 employees to finish Mass Effect 5, which still has an unknown release date.
This comes after a bizarre statement from BioWare this past week that the “full studio” wasn’t needed for this stage of development of Mass Effect 5, which is not an uncommon practice for many games at a certain stage of development. But this was different, given that in doing so, BioWare was permanently shrinking in size, moving many devs over to elsewhere in EA, but this statement totally masked a number of layoffs, possibly dozens, mainly focused on the Dragon Age: The Veilguard team. Reportedly, the studio has shrunk from 200 employees around two years ago to less than 100 currently.
Veilguard caps off a decade of BioWare underperformance with failed new live service IP Anthem, and the much-memed Mass Effect Andromeda that did not match the quality (or sales) of the original trilogy. Now, Dragon Age: The Veilguard reportedly did half the “engagements” EA wanted, just 1.5 million (and with EA Play, that’s not even sales). Reviews were okay, and many Dragon Age fans did in fact like it, but not nearly enough of them showed up. The game was also not what it could have been in part because it was originally supposed to be live service before that was entirely erased midway through production, which was incredibly disruptive.
Can less than 100 employees…actually make a Mass Effect 5? That depends. We don’t know exactly what phase of production the game is in, and big games have had 100 people or so working on them in some instances. But that does seem low for a game that’s supposed to be this big, and you also have to wonder how morale is at BioWare at this point, as they watch half the studio be erased in the last few years, and are no doubt fearful for their own jobs if ME5 is not a hit.
ME5 head Michael Gamble has promised that this will stay true to Mass Effect games of the past, which would be a contrast to Dragon Age: The Veilguard changing the aesthetic and tone pretty dramatically from previous games. That said, it has now been 13 years since the last well-liked Mass Effect game, ME3. We also, worryingly, do not even have a release year for Mass Effect 5 right now, and have only seen the barest of teasers that serve as reminders that yes, the game still exists.
Whether you like their last decade of games or not, it’s tough to watch any devs lose their jobs. We should all be hoping for Mass Effect 5 to be a hit not just for that reason but because well, I’d love to play another great Mass Effect game, wouldn’t you?
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