Star Wars: The Old Republic Cuts

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Website has word of staff cuts at BioWare Austin, the development studio behind Star Wars: The Old Republic, the sci-fi MMORPG. The update from Doctors Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka does not say why this is happening, but does that this about the future: "Rest assured that we remain dedicated to delivering a high quality service in SWTOR to you, our fans, and we will continue to support and grow Star Wars: The Old Republic over the weeks, months and years to come." VentureBeat has a follow-up comment on this from Electronic Arts:
BioWare has restructured its studio in Austin today. Of the employees impacted, some will be able to join other projects within EA, others will leave the company. These are very difficult decisions, but it allows us to focus our staff to maintain and grow Star Wars: The Old Republic.

BioWare Austin remains a large and important part of BioWare and EA, working with other studios around the world to continue to deliver a high-quality service and exciting new content for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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76.
 
Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic Cuts
May 23, 2012, 08:27
76.
Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic Cuts May 23, 2012, 08:27
May 23, 2012, 08:27
 
Cutter wrote on May 23, 2012, 05:48:
StingingVelvet wrote on May 23, 2012, 05:04:
wtf_man wrote on May 22, 2012, 19:40:
Bioware was dead to me after DA2. I never got into the ME series... bought ME1 on steam, and it just didn't grab me for some reason, so I never bought ME2 or ME3.

Although they say they have learned from DA2... I tend to doubt it... we'll see though.

And, yes, I think if DA3 fails, EA will kill Bioware off. They already have for the most part.... just the name still exists... but that will go next.

You guys are amusing with this Bioware is dying hyperbole. ME3 sold better than 1 and 2, and while DA2 was disappointing it was not a total bomb or a long-term trend. TOR was a mandated project and despite "only" a million subs and a probably free-to-play future I would guess it will make a decent ROI for EA.

It's too strong a brand to kill, and hasn't had that many failures at all. Westwood and Bullfrog in comparison were more niche developers (PC only) and hadn't had a good hit in years and years when they closed. Also Westwood basically became part of EA LA, rather than thrown out on their asses.

People can ignore a one-off failure, but when it starts to develop into a pattern as it is with BiowarEA then people aren't so quick to jump on-board and part with their hard-earned cash. You also have to rememember that you're talking about ever expanding budgets whilst their sales decline. And that's how the beginning of the end starts. You can bet the suits at EA are taking a long, hard look at Bioware right now trying to figure out what to do exactly.

It's as if SV doesn't know how the industry works nowadays. Of course Bioware future is in jeopardy and the best proof of that is the layoffs, you don't fire people if you think the future of that house is rock solid despite failures.

Again, and I'm calling it now, if DA3 fails in selling adequately it will be the beginning of the end for BW. This is EA whcih is driven by profit and stock price. Hell, they announced a profit for the first time in years and their stocks are plummeting in value and close to breaking below the $14 price point, throwing them back to 1998-97 price levels.
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