Through a blog post on August 23, 2023, Gary McKay, the General Manager at BioWare disclosed that it was trimming its workforce. That decision impacted about 50 employees. At least seven of the former BioWare employees who spent an average of 14 years each at the company are suing the Mass Effect and Dragon Age studio for a better severance package.
The development was discovered through the Statement of Claim filed with Alberta’s Court of King’s Bench. In the filing, the former BioWare employees claimed the Electronic Art-owned studio owes them better severance pay.
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Worobec Law Offices, the firm representing the ex-BioWare employees, revealed that in most cases of layoffs without a cause in Alberta, the concerned firm gives the affected staff at least one month of severance pay for every year they spent working at the company, plus “full value of all benefits included”.
The ex-BioWare employees said the studio offered them “significantly less than this amount”. Consequently, some of them tried to negotiate with the studio to increase the severance package but their pleas fell on deaf ears.
In addition to asking for better severance pay, the former BioWare employees are now asking for punitive damages for “unreasonable poor treatment”. Although the size of the severance package offered to the ex-BioWare employees was not disclosed, we believe this is not a good way to treat people who offered 14 years of their lives to a company.
Perhaps, the disagreement may have resulted from poor communication. The arbitrary hiring and firing of employees is the reason why calls for unionization in the game industry are gaining momentum.
The ex-BioWare employees may struggle to find new roles
Employers will always look at the portfolio of prospective employees to ascertain if they possess the skills they claim to have. That is why people work so hard to build a strong portfolio around their skills—and work harder to keep that portfolio updated.
However, the ex-BioWare employees are not allowed to include any of their recent work on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in their portfolio. We understand that is usually included in the NDA of staff (whether permanent or contractual) to prevent the leaks of upcoming titles. However, in cases like this, it negatively impacts the employee.
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“In light of the numerous recent industry layoffs and the fact that BioWare’s NDA prevents us from showing any of our recent work on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in our portfolio, we are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches,” said one of the seven ex-BioWare employees.
“While we remain supportive of the game we worked so hard on, and of our colleagues continuing that work, we are struggling to understand why BioWare is shortchanging us in this challenging time.”
One of the ex-BioWare employee
Some clauses in the NDA signed by the former employees may be illegal
The legal counsel to the ex-BioWare employees, R. Alex Kennedy, is of the opinion that some clauses included in the document signed by the laid-off employees had illegal provisions.
“There are many situations where employers include termination provisions that are not enforced by the Courts, and I think we see that in this case too,” said Kennedy. “BioWare attempted to reduce its obligation to these employees well below what the courts typically award, including by eliminating benefits from its termination pay—that appears to be contrary to the Employment Standards Code.”
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“These people are artists and creators who have worked very hard and for a very long time in a difficult industry, producing big profits for their employer. Their termination without cause en masse like this calls for a response. Employers here can terminate anyone at any time without cause, but with that right comes a responsibility to the people they put in that situation.”
R. Alex Kennedy counsel to the ex-BioWare employees
It is believed that the layoffs may affect the release date of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf—which has already been pushed back internally. According to reports, the game was earlier planned for release in the summer of 2024. However, that date may be moved to later next year or even spill over to 2025.
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