Layoffs at Bioware Austin (Star Wars MMO) including the producer

I don't play MMOs myself or even pay much attention to the genre, but I get the impression that going against WoW is like iceskating uphill in buttered slippers.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/174300/SWTORs_executive_producer_leaves_BioWare_amid_layoff_reports.php

Amid reports that BioWare Austin is laying off staff today, Gamasutra can confirm that Star Wars: The Old Republic's executive producer Rich Vogel is no longer with the company.
Vogel was instrumental in the development of SWTOR, overseeing all aspects of the MMO before and after its launch in December. The online game, though, has lost around 400,000 paid subscribers in recent months, and BioWare Austin recently said it's considering free-to-play options for the title.

Its almost like giving a videogame a 200 million dollar budget + constant maintenance is a bad idea, thats just me though.

Layoffs are a sad thing in any case, but screw BioWare. I have nothing but contempt for them. They haven't made a playable game since Jade Empire.famicommander

Theres no doubt in mind my that EA is responsible for their drop in quality lately.

[QUOTE="famicommander"]Layoffs are a sad thing in any case, but screw BioWare. I have nothing but contempt for them. They haven't made a playable game since Jade Empire.crimsonman1245

Theres no doubt in mind my that EA is responsible for their drop in quality lately.

and so what else is new? No surprise to me. Though I wish those affected the best of luck.

Sad to hear about anyone losing their job. Wish them good fortune in finding another one.

you guys really need to stop blaming ea for everything bad that happens to bioware...how about bioware is not perfect and they sometimes do things that the fans don't like

ive played swtor and its a pretty fun mmo...i think its the lack of content that is slowing down the game. I heard somewhere that content is slow because everything is fully voiced.

with that said, i wish they would have just released swtor as a regular rpg instead of an mmo....or a console release...

i wish they would have just released swtor as a regular rpg

jsmoke03

It would have had a lot more content if they had.

I work with a guy who told me his son just got a job at Bioware...

"He told me he wanted to make video games," my co-worker said, "but I told him to get a job in networking. And he did - at Bioware."

I think it's supposed to be one of those "less likely to get laid off" positions.

How is this a suprise to anyone? Do you relaly think they are oging to keep the same number of developers working full time maintiaing an MMO as creating one?

Are people really that stupid? This is standard for the industry. When was the last time a developer didn't let go people at the end of a project? Much less keep an entire MMO development staff to do content updates + server maintenance/bug tracking.

How is this a suprise to anyone? Do you relaly think they are oging to keep the same number of developers working full time maintiaing an MMO as creating one?

Are people really that stupid? This is standard for the industry. When was the last time a developer didn't let go people at the end of a project? Much less keep an entire MMO development staff to do content updates + server maintenance/bug tracking.

Kinthalis

That would be contract work, not layoffs.

Yeah, that's pretty bad. I played SWTOR, and relying on voice acting as its "shtick" was not a good idea. The novelty wears off fast, and I ended up skipping a lot of the dialogue/conversations because they were so stretched out or dull.