All unionized Dragon Age Dreadwolf QA testers have been laid off.
Polygon reported yesterday, October 4, that a total of 13 quality assurance developers working on Dragon Age 4 had all been laid off. All these developers weren't working internally at Dragon Age developer BioWare, but were instead working from QA outsourcing company Keyword Studios.
The workers at Keywords Studios were originally laid off from the outsourcing company last month in September, as a result of BioWare declining to continue its contract with the company the month prior in August. Polygon then received confirmation from Keywords Studios itself that the 13 workers had been laid off.
The QA workers at the studio originally voted to unionize last year in June 2022. Keywords Studios was contracted to assist BioWare Edmonton with QA work, and at the time last year, all 16 voters at the studio opted to unionize. This actually made the studio the first to vote to unionize in Canada, at the time.
Keywords Studios has apparently offered the 13 developers "minimal severance," according to a union that's now filed an employment standards complaint against the studio. At the time of writing, severance has not been paid out to the developers that were laid off last month in September.
This isn't the first time BioWare has laid off staffers this year. In August, the studio laid off a total of 50 developers, reassuring worried fans that the move was done to ensure that "Dragon Age Dreadwolf is an outstanding game." We've still got no firm release date for Dragon Age Dreadwolf, several years after it was originally announced.
Additionally, seven of the 50 affected developers from August are in the middle of suing BioWare for better severance, as first reported by Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach just below. This case is unrelated to the labor complaint filed by the union yesterday, which means BioWare is currently facing two cases of legal action.
Seven of the 50 BioWare employees who were laid off in August are sueing the Dragon Age maker for better severance. "We are struggling to understand why BioWare is shortchanging us in this challenging time." pic.twitter.com/6117SXykHWOctober 3, 2023
Dragon Age fans were especially sad to see one veteran writer depart, who was previously responsible for shaping some of the most memorable moments in the series so far.
