#and im under no illusions that bioware is going to start treating its employees better

[transfenris-truther]

Broward probably just didn't renw the contract on October 1st the end of the fiscal year. Just how it is for contractor businesses unfortunately. I don't think they were layoffs but a common motion in big business. Still sucks for the contractors though but once it's expired, it's done with.

Respectfully, who cares? Bioware (it's autocorrecting to Broward for me too, lol) has been bleeding long-time team members, alienating its employees and engaging in generally crap employment practices for AGES. And it's only gotten worse over the last few years.

Bioware absolutely could've saved these jobs. They could've saved the jobs of other employees that they definitively have laid off in the past. They could've made the lives of their employees good enough that their veteran writers and game designers didn't feel compelled to quit. Bioware doesn't have to hire contractors either. I personally know out of work game designers who are desperate to escape a contractor model where they have no rights and no job security. Bioware could hire these people as employees, pay them good money and benefits, and not treat them like crap.

But they don't do that. Because the "Bioware" we have now is just EA wearing its corpse.

Bioware may not be the worst games company out there, but they're a part of an industry that is extremely committed to burning out employees, churning out trend-chasing, souless garbage, and enabling incredibly toxic business practices which harm their consumers and employees. The crunch is very real at Bioware and, while they've shown more restraint than the average AAA game company, we've seen them choose to engage in business practices which are anti-employee, and some that are anti-consumer as well.

We lost Bioware a long time ago, and I don't think the video game industry is ever going to give it back.