Dragon Age Dreadwolf dev lays off all unionized QA workers

Dragon Age 4
(Image credit: BioWare)

All unionized Dragon Ag🌃e Dreadwolf QA testers have been laid off.

reported yesterday, October 4, that a total of 13 quality assurance developers working on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: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 Studiཧo💝s.

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 re꧅ceived 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 fir♓st 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 a📖gainst 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, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询ꦍ:the studio laid off a total of 50 devꦿelopers, reassuring worried fans 🥀that the move was done to ensure that "Dragon Age Dreadwolf is an outstanding game." We've s🙈till 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 Et﷽han Gach just below. This case is unrelated to the labor complaint filed by the union yesterday, which means Bio🅘Ware is currently facing two cases of legal action.

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.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time🥃 he freelances with other outlet🌠s around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.