BioWare’s been going through some troubling times of late, but it all came to a head recently when the disastrous development of Anthem was revealed to all by Jason Schreier of Kotaku in a detailed and extensive report. Among many troubling things, the report shed light on BioWare’s internal troubles, which involves a lack of leadership, less than ideal working conditions, and a lot more than constantly and consistently leads to heavy amounts of stress for employees, which, of course, in turn leads to disappointing games being launched as final products.
When BioWare responded to these reports officially, their response came across as disingenuous and ignorant of all these troubling issues, but shortly afterward, an internal e-mail sent by BioWare chief Casey Hudson to all staff suggested that the studio was taking these matters seriously, and would be working toward making necessary improvements.
Now, Schreier is reporting on Twitter that they have started taking steps toward the same. BioWare reportedly held an “all-hands meeting” on Wednesday to speak about all the issues that have recently come to light (and others that haven’t and have been brought up by employees internally), including having more streamlined production, and the troublesome Frostbite engine. According to Schreier, some people he has spoken to after the meeting are optimistic, while “others are far more skeptical”.
Schreier also followed that up with another tweet, where he said that though BioWare and EA haven’t contacted him officially yet, “their internal response has been far, far more serious than their blog post last week made it seem”. Here’s hoping we see the fruits of those efforts sooner rather than later.
BioWare is currently at work on Dragon Age 4, which too seems to have gone through some major changes during development. After being rebooted following a couple years of pre-production, the game might now be moving in a multiplayer-centric direction. Get more info through here.
BioWare held a long all-hands meeting for staff on Wednesday to talk about various issues raised both internally and in Kotaku's reporting (production practices, Frostbite, etc). Couple of people I've talked to are optimistic about changes; others are far more skeptical.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) April 12, 2019
EA/BioWare still haven't officially talked to me, but it sounds like their internal response has been far, far more serious than their blog post last week made it seem
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) April 12, 2019
