BioWare is laying off 50 people

I don't think it's Canada-wide. It's place by place. The fake BioWare in Montreal only existed because of those subsidies because Quebec was subsidizing games studios.

I'm definitely concerned, but I'm always more concerned about who is making a product rather than the laid off staff. I still remember the weirdo creative director who was all about "intersectional feminism" and that's going to make an awful game.

Caitie @/ghildirthalen
As many of you know, last week BioWare laid off 50 devs suddenly. It's been shocking to everyone. While we can't do much, we wanted to try and do something for those affected. So, we started @crewcompanions

Our goal: Help #hirethe50 and send kindness to those in need.

On our Twitter/🔵☁️ [blueksky] accounts, we'll be boosting job offers towards those laid-off so they can be found by those in need, as well as pinning a thread of tweets by those looking for work.

If you are in gamedev and have openings, please use #hirethe50 so we can find you!

For fans, we have volunteers working tirelessly to build a small website for you to post kind words for those who are hurting at the moment. I (and the @crewcompanions account) will let you know the moment it's up and running!

I can't speak for everyone involved, but many of us on the team have suddenly lost jobs in mass-layoffs like this one, and we don't want people to go through what we did.

While companies will never care about you, people will. We care, and we want to help as best we can.

Twitter link: twitter.com/CrewCompanions
Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/crewcompanions.bsky.social

Most of these subsidies are provincial not federal.   Here in Alberta we had a change in government about 5 years ago and the subsidies went kapoof.  The present government cares nothing about video games only mildly about tech and unless you are part of the oil industry you are getting crumbs at best.

Is their politics relevant though? When it comes to the current story, there is a separate post which was begun some time back but has now been updated, saying what different people had worked on. This also includes those on the writing team who are still in post. The current Game Director has been with Bioware for many years, working on games that people have praised, so clearly even if they are the person Duskwander was referring to, their politics have not impacted on the quality of their work.

We know from David Gaider that whenever someone on the team wishes to introduce a narrative that is close to their heart, as was the case with Dorian and his personal story, they have to justify it with the rest of the team. Initially they objected on the grounds that it didn't fit with the setting because it had already been established that Tevinter didn't have a problem with homosexuality, which he then countered with "behind closed doors" and that Dorian's problem was that he wasn't willing to be discrete about it or take a wife he didn't desire just to maintain the family line. The rest of the team agreed that premise would be consistent with already established lore and so DG got the personal plot line he wanted.

There has been a lot of insertion of modern politics into existing franchises in other media in recent years which is often incongruous to the setting besides impacting on the quality of the narrative but to date I don't believe Bioware has been guilty of this, although I haven't played more recent games like Andromeda or Anthem.

On a related by opposite tangent, there has also been the laughable criticism of BG3 on the grounds of racism because of the attitudes of people in the setting to certain races, such as tiefling or drow, and that the player is obliged to relive the trauma they have experienced in real life. The obvious answer to this is don't play that race. It is not a new concept that Larian have introduced to mirror modern politics but has always been in the setting from the outset. Bioware also explores the issues of racism, prejudice and other social problems in Thedas, through the attitude of the dominant race, humans, towards others, the caste system among the dwarves, etc. When I choose to play an elf, I do so in the full knowledge I am going to experience prejudice but I know I will just have to deal with it. Ditto a Vashoth trying to make their way in the world. There is also an argument that it gives an insight into what life is like for those who suffer discrimination if you aren't part of the group that does in real life.

It is not a matter of whether real world experiences are used in a fantasy setting but whether they are appropriate to that setting and how they fit into the narrative.

autonomy?

Maybe watch Darrahs DA2 video.
And DADs change from Joplin to Morrison was also EAs decision.

Dragon age never have autonomy. Maybe ME or anthem but not DA.

50 people have just lost their jobs and livelihoods suddenly, please can we not go the 'but the real problem/bad news here is that BioWare are wOkE and making Dragon Age wOkE' route

Yeah.

We will most definitely not be doing that.

I was gonna say, stay classy BioWare fans /s
Thanks for saying something.