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Layoffs at Bioware What does this mean for content


Painted

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Can we pronounce this game dead now? Is there a doctor around that can call it?

 

Game launches with very little of the standard MMO features people want.

Various patches over the course of the first 4 months adress little except fix a few bugs and exploits

Game update 1.2 comes out with a major restructering of many classes.

Bioware loses 400,000 subs.

Bioware lays off team members.

I dunno, do we need someone to pronounce it dead?

*shrugs* They killed their own game. I have very little if any sympathy for anyone at bioware after following this game for years, buying the CE for $150.00 and then being subsequently ripped off with a fail game.

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It wasn't just QA people. Writers got canned, too.

 

It doesn't seem to be focused in one area.

 

It's more like a down-sizing of several areas.

 

This after the announcement of the DA3 Team being shifted to work on SWTOR.

 

Haven't seen a certain number of posters around lately, either.

 

Oh dear. :o:o

Edited by Azumio
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Its funny because I have had a positive outlook on this game and have loved playing it, but coming from a software development background I had always said that there QA team was not meeting expectations. It's really the only complaint I had consistantly levied against Bioware and it turns out that the writing was on the wall.

 

You can not have patches that go live that erase parts of the game. You cannot have major content patches that completely obliterate your killer feature (in this case the sound) for 90% of your user base.

 

I have worked with alot of QA people in my day and I have found very few who were actually talanted. In my opinion, and I know this is harsh, QA is where you go if you failed at development or decided that you wanted to change to a career in IT without any training.

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It wasn't just QA people. Writers got canned, too.

 

It doesn't seem to be focused in one area.

 

It's more like a down-sizing of several areas.

 

This after the announcement of the DA3 Team being shifted to work on SWTOR.

 

Haven't seen a certain number of posters around lately, either.

 

Oh dear. :o:o

 

In that case maybe they were just cutting loose some of the dead weight, after all you don't need a ton of writers to develop endgame content.

 

You will be missed Hepler :(

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I have worked with alot of QA people in my day and I have found very few who were actually talanted. In my opinion, and I know this is harsh, QA is where you go if you failed at development or decided that you wanted to change to a career in IT without any training.

 

^This.

 

But the best of QA usually make their way out of QA into System Testing, Systems Engineering and Systems Architecture if coming into IT from another career.

Edited by Urael
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A Web Content Writer writes content for the website and forums; help info, FAQs, blurbs about in-game tools and such. They do not write story content for the game.

 

:csw_redsaber::csw_bluesaber:

 

Thank you for the clarification, I feel better now. :)

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Its funny because I have had a positive outlook on this game and have loved playing it, but coming from a software development background I had always said that there QA team was not meeting expectations. It's really the only complaint I had consistantly levied against Bioware and it turns out that the writing was on the wall.

 

You can not have patches that go live that erase parts of the game. You cannot have major content patches that completely obliterate your killer feature (in this case the sound) for 90% of your user base.

 

I have worked with alot of QA people in my day and I have found very few who were actually talanted. In my opinion, and I know this is harsh, QA is where you go if you failed at development or decided that you wanted to change to a career in IT without any training.

 

 

We need to take this quote and plaster it at the top of this thread.

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A Web Content Writer writes content for the website and forums; help info, FAQs, blurbs about in-game tools and such. They do not write story content for the game.

 

:csw_redsaber::csw_bluesaber:

 

Ironic, as these were about the only things that were not bugged or shafted by poorly managed developers who failed to learn from past lessons - we ignore history at our peril.

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This is unfortunate regardless of how anyone wants to spin it. For both the people that lost their jobs and for the game itself. It's not like content and features were blazing out the door in the first place. The pace reminded me of the early days of WoW. I think this was a really poor business decision on EA's part. Cutting their team size is only going to hamper their ability to put out new content and features faster. This was a cost control measure. It sounds like they've decided they're not in this space to win or expand but to settle for a lower subscriber base and remain profitable.

 

If they wanted to see this game be a success they should have added staff to get more features and content into development sooner and see this game reach its full potential. Instead it seems like they've lost faith in this project and see this game as a money pit that will only lose them more profit the more they invest in it. That's really sad as I think this game has a lot of potential that will be hard to meet with staff reductions and the gloom that will be hanging over the heads of those left. Whenever layoffs happen, the smart people that are left know it's time to get out. I think this will sadly just create a slow death spiral for the game. I hope I'm wrong and they can pull out of this and grow the game and its subscriber base. It's going to be tough.

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A sinking ship can't say I didn't see this coming. They have ran the players off and now the big boys step in and are going to run off fail developers who are clueless as to what the players want and what makes a good mmo.

 

I hope no one hires them again, so they are not allowed to ruin another IP.

 

Unfortunately, the MMORPG development talent pool and player base are rather incestuous - the same players have been getting the shaft from the same developers for years.

Edited by VainEldritch
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It makes me sad to see that so few people take the time to express their sympathies to real people losing their jobs, while so many people take their time to express their loathing towards the game, bioware, EA or each other's opinions.

 

Best of luck to all the laid off people!

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It makes me sad to see that so few people take the time to express their sympathies to real people losing their jobs, while so many people take their time to express their loathing towards the game, bioware, EA or each other's opinions.

 

Best of luck to all the laid off people!

 

While noble, this was not the intent of the thread. I have every sympathy for anyone who loses their livelihood, especially when we all had such high hopes for this game.

 

However, personal feelings of sorrow aside, BW/EA really screwed the pooch on this one.

Edited by VainEldritch
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