#BioWare Edmonton

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The first video game industry workers in Canada to unionize on Tuesday staged a rally in downtown Edmonton asking for fairer treatment from the company that laid them off. The workers for Irish company Keywords Studios, who are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, voted unanimously late last month(opens in a new tab) in favour of strike action. "What we have seen from that company is a real effort to try and get rid of the union, get rid of these workers and not respect their rights to unionize, get a first contract and look at improving the gaming industry and the working conditions that are there for all workers," Chris O'Halloran, the executive director of UFCW Local 401, told CTV News Edmonton at the rally outside the Epcor Tower, which houses BioWare's Edmonton office.

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Tagging: @politicsofcanada @abpoli

#Workers Rights #Videogames #Keywords Studios #Alberta #Edmonton #workers rise up #Bioware

[eleonorpiteira]

I noticed that your art style is really similar to the character cards (tarot cards) of Dragon Age Inquisition… were you a creative director of those illustrations? Or are you heavily inspired by them?

Lovely Anon, I'm extremely flattered you might think so, but no, I have not worked on any Dragon Age game (but I sure get that a lot haha). I was commissioned by Bioware to do a portrait of Carver Hawke for a community thing they did on the last Dragon Age Day, alongside other fantastic community artists, but that's it. I'm just a fan 😊

My art style has been heavily influenced by the Dragon Age Inquisition cards (like many other artists! I adore them all!), but more than that, my art style has also been heavily influenced by artists that influenced the style of the DA tarot cards - like Alphonse Mucha, and even more so, Gustav Klimt. I also really enjoy the work of other contemporary artists who are influenced by Klimt too, like Thomas Blackshear II and Svetlin Vassilev! My art style is influenced by other things too though.

I think the DA cards helped unlock some possibilities in terms of style and stylization in my mind, which was tremendously helpful and made me grow as an artist, but I haven't tried to mimic their style in years (love looking at the cards still though 😍).

And to be honest, I don't think my art style looks that similar to DA stuff anymore. Maybe some elements, and some more than others, but that's it. DA cards have a much looser style than I do, and they're WAY more expressive! The artists who created them are MILES ahead of me!

tl/dr: man I wish 😂

#ask #anon #reply #eleonor says stuff #step one: live in edmonton canada #failed step one #😂 #if I had an euro every time someone asks me that...I could buy Bioware from EA probably

[avame]

personally I’m more interested in what this transfer means for BW as a whole - since anthem (and one could argue, since at least ME3), BW has shown consistent mismanagement in their dev cycles (and iirc a lot of upper management turnover?).

there’s an anthem post-mortem out there that discusses how BW’s main studio ignored BW Austin’s advice and experience regarding running a multiplayer game/creating an engaging endgame, and how it was EA that told BW to include mechanics like flying, one of the few things praised in the game. pair that with the news that DA4 went through, what, two restarts during development, tried to be a live-service game, and now may or may not utilize AI writing in place of human writers, the one thing BW has always been known for. I’ve heard that BW Montreal also didn’t receive the help they’d requested from Edmonton during ME:A’s dev cycle, but I’m not 100% certain of that. the studio’s probably on thin ice, and it’s kind of their own fault.

(whether EA is partially to blame is another topic. personally, I think BW is far more to blame than EA, since its problems all seem internal rather than imposed from the outside. a lot of criticism that should be leveled at BW gets passed over by fans as “EA sucks!” but like, there’s more to it than that, and BW has been coasting off that perception for too long.)

what I mean is: BW is in more danger than SWTOR is, and moving SWTOR to another studio under the EA umbrella might very well be a precautionary measure by EA to keep the game running in case BW (Edmonton especially) gets shut down, which will likely be determined by DA4, a game that looks more and more troubled as time passes.

#swtor #also mmos changing studios is not unheard of and most actually do well afterwards too! #LOTRO’s gone through two or three studios and receives a lot of regular updates (more than SWTOR for sure) #but like BioWare’s poor management has been an issue for at least a decade at this point lol I have hope for the game under new management #I might make a longer effortpost about bioware edmonton and the myth of modern BW magic at some point but this’ll do for now

[veshialles]

so technically i didn't break the 30$ gift limit, but shipping's a bitch unfortunately ugh

#ruby rambles #some friends are doing secret santa and I got the perfect pick (the 1 other person in our group who's hyperfixated on Mass Effect rn) #so i bought a silly little hanar plushie for him! i hope he likes it :) #it was pretty inexpensive in theory except for some reason everything in their store ships from the US??? #like uh okay isn't Bioware's HQ in fucking Edmonton?? Literally in the same province??? #it's okay nobody else has to know (except my 823 tumblr followers)

[rebelrevolutionary]

THEY LITERALLY LAID OFF MARY KIRBY......... WHAT THE FUCK BIOWARE??????

#dragon age

[felassan]

Source: posted to Twitter just now by Jon Renish [link]

Transcript:

"Terminated BioWare Employees Sue for Better Severance On August 23 of this year, Edmonton video game studio BioWare ULC terminated 50 employees without cause. In most recent court cases of termination without cause, Alberta Courts have awarded at least one month of severance pay per year of service, with the full value of all benefits included; the severance that BioWare offered to these employees was significantly less than this amount. Several of those ex-employees attempted to negotiate with BioWare for adequate severance, but BioWare refused to increase its severance amounts. Seven employees, with an average of 14 years at BioWare, have refused to accept BioWare's low offers, and have filed a Statement of Claim with Alberta's Court of King's Bench, requesting fair severance pay and including a request for punitive damages for what they say is unreasonably poor treatment by BioWare. "In light of the numerous recent industry layoffs and the fact that BioWare's NDAs prevent us from showing any of our recent work on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in our portfolios, we are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches," said one of the terminated 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." R. Alex Kennedy, counsel for the seven employees, says that even in cases where BioWare has contracts that discuss termination, BioWare may have included illegal provisions: "There are many situations where employers include termination provisions that are not enforced by the Courts," he said, "and I think we see that in this case too. 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." In Kennedy's opinion, these employees deserve generous severance pay: "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.""

#bioware #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #mass effect #next mass effect #long post #longpost #mj best of

[tieflingkisser]

All unionized Dragon Age: Dreadwolf QA workers have been laid off

All of Keywords Studios’ unionized QA workers were laid off from the studio in late September after Dragon Age: Dreadwolf developer BioWare declined to continue its contract in August. The QA workers, who were contracted to assist with playtesting and quality assurance at BioWare Edmonton, won their union vote in June 2022. All 16 eligible voters said “yes” to joining United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401. It was a historic vote, making the group the first games industry union in Canada. Keywords Studios workers were in bargaining with the company when they were laid off following the news of 50 job cuts at BioWare itself. A UFCW representative told Polygon that 13 people were laid off — everyone supporting BioWare. Liz Corless, Keywords Studios’ global head of marketing, confirmed that 13 Edmonton-based QA workers were laid off.

#dragon age #bioware #news

[demilypyro]

New Mass Effect teaser is out.

You get a SICK Jacket now!

Anyway in August Bioware laid off 50 employees who were working on Dragon Age Dreadwolf. They are now protesting because they received far less severance pay than is legally required. 13 QA testers were also laid off back in September, an unusual choice since a game still in development would actively *need* testers. These former employees are today picketing in hopes of getting their jobs back.

#mass effect #dragon age dreadwolf #bioware #n7 day

[shieldwife]

once again laying in bed manifesting maevaris romance in da4 <3

#i'm not calling it dad. it sounds stupid #anyway. if i can't kiss her i'm buying a plane ticket to edmonton to have a word with bioware <3 #op #da posting

[iww-gnv]

All of Keywords Studios’ unionized QA workers were laid off from the studio in late September after Dragon Age: Dreadwolf developer BioWare declined to continue its contract in August. The QA workers, who were contracted to assist with playtesting and quality assurance at BioWare Edmonton, won their union vote in June 2022. All 16 eligible voters said “yes” to joining United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401. It was a historic vote, making the group the first games industry union in Canada. Keywords Studios workers were in bargaining with the company when they were laid off following the news of 50 job cuts at BioWare itself.

#news #canadian news #canada #canadian politics #united food and commercial workers canada union #bioware #dragon age #dragon age dreadwolf #keywords studios

[painted-bees]

Thinking a little more on the whole "when did Margie and Raf realize they were In A Relationship?" question, and while they'd both struggle to find a definitive moment, I think there was one particular situation that arose to kinda...lock things in for them.

Sometime prior to autumn 2009, Margie was headhunted by Bioware[Edmonton] thanks to the recommendation of an old Orbital Media colleague who was trying to establish/salvage Bioware's beleaguered handheld dev team. Following a promising phone interview, she was asked to make a 30 second demo track as part of the hiring process, and met expectations well enough that she was offered a job as an in-house musician and sound designer. Which also meant that she'd have to move to Edmonton. She had been keeping Raf up to date with this whole thing, mostly because she was too excited to keep it to herself. Raf was hugely supportive and excited -for- her. 'Cus like...he plays games. He even plays Bioware games, so, yanno...very cool. But he had also assumed this was gonna be more of a freelance contract kind of thing. And so, hearing her mention that the company would cover the costs of relocating her to Edmonton comes as a weird surprise. And suddenly, he's having a real hard time being excited for her. He keeps it to himself, 'cus he'd be an asshole not to. He's been really adamant with himself, and with anyone who asks, that he and Margie are just really good, comfortable friends/roommates. But even by this point, he's kinda known and been unwilling to admit to himself that the only reason he hasn't openly recognized their relationship for what it actually is--is because the non-committal ambiguousness provides him a clean way out if he starts feeling cagey/uncomfy about anything. It was an exit door that he liked keeping open incase he needed it. But Margie had seen it differently. To her, it was a door she figured she was gonna have to leave through eventually. Because Raf would inevitably find a more serious partner to settle down with, or he'd be whisked off by some other important venture that she couldn't be a part of. She figured he was leaving that door open because his current situation was a temporary transitional stage in his life that he simply allowed her to be a part of. And so, she's not really torn-up about the prospect of leaving, especially under the circumstances. It presented an easier, more exciting transition than she might have had to face if Raf had 'outgrown' her first.

So, Margie's excited about the new job offer, and Raf's sitting there feeling like he played himself--while being wholly unable/unwilling to tell her "Hey, uh...this sucks, actually, I really don't want you to go." Because that'd require him to admit that he's been lying to himself--which sucks. But more than that, it'd require him to admit that he's been lying to her--only employing honesty as a tool of convenience to dissuade her from going and getting something really good for herself. He can't, he won't. The sudden off-key in his tone, though, doesn't go unnoticed by her, and Margie is perfectly candid about the whole "we'll visit each other, I'll stay in touch--I'm not gonna disappear on you lmao" Except that's not really...how Raf operates. Distance + time does not make this man's paranoid lil' heart grow fonder. There's never been a relationship-friend, family, or otherwise-with enough staying power for Raf to maintain it once they're no longer within physical proximity. Even if he wants to 'keep in touch', it quickly falls off. He's just known...too many people, and been too many places...his brain doesn't have the bandwidth to maintain close relationships when there's a distance. And, after a long enough pause in communication, his paranoid anxieties lift the barrier of entry higher and higher until it's almost insurmountable. People become strangers again. Always. In the end, Bioware did not get to develop any more handheld titles, and the handheld division in Edmonton is dissolved before Margie was even offered a job start date to plan her big move around. And so the whole thing falls apart before it even had the chance to get started lmao. At which point, Raf finally allows himself to be honest and say "thank god, I was fuckin' dreading an empty apartment again." Treats her to a consolatory dinner, and gets to tell her as much as he is able to figure out for himself--that he doesn't really know what he wants, actually--but that things aren't as casual and clean-cut as he thought it was. He still can't bring himself to be like "yes, romantic committed relationship, that's us, that's what we are" but he does at least take measures to establish that he'd really like to take off his shoes, place them on the rack next to hers, and close the door behind him.

#Margie takes a little while to get over the sting of disappointment with having her cool validating job fall through #but she's happy she gets to stick around with Raf too...and then soon realizes the full implications of what he tells her #over that consolatory dinner lmao #hi-note #magritte #rafael

[punching-fade-rifts]

While there wasn’t anything at the 2023 Game Awards about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, there was a small protest group outside the building that was about unionizing in game development and the large amount of layoffs this year in the industry. BioWare isn’t mentioned by name but Keyword Studio’s union is mentioned ! Here’s my scans of their brochure they were handing out if anyone is interested!

Updated to add alt text for those with screen readers

[begin alt text]

The Game Awards 2023: The Best Year for Games

The Worst Year for Game Workers

Protesting a year of layoffs

[next page]

The 2023 game industry: $188 billion in revenue

9000+ Layoffs (source: LA Times, videogamelayoffs.com)

…and that’s surely an undercount. It’s hard to overstate just how disastrous this has been for the workers who actually make games and for the health of the industry as a whole.

More layoffs means more competition for fewer open positions. More competition means lower wages and burnout. Burnout and lack of positions force workers out of the industry.

All that talent, gone. And those that remain still suffer! The work piles up in fewer desks, you don’t know if your next. These are poor conditions for working, let alone for the creativity and care needed to create games.

[next page]

Welcome to The Game Awards 2023: She’ll of an Industry Edition

This year has been full of amazing games from Hi-Fi Rush to Armored Core VI.

Unfortunately, the workers creating these games have seen the worst layoffs in decades.

We’ve lost our livelihoods, our colleagues, and our passion. We’re forced to accept lower pay or leave the industry, joining an exodus of talent that grows by the day.

This year has been nothing less than a crisis for the industry.

But we can fight this. Over the last two years, workers have been organizing into unions to defend themselves, and building worker cooperatives to create the spaces we deserve.

We need to keep up the pressure to prevent the collapse of the real industry: the workers that make it.

[next page]

Anti-Union Retaliation

Unions are finally here! They took the industry by storm in 2022 and beyond, but the fight is not over.

Keywords Edmonton United and the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA) have been harassed and threatened, and even subjected to illegal targeted firings for daring to stand up to the bosses.

Generative AI

Generative AI is built on the stolen art, writing, voices, and even bodies of artists and actors, and companies aim to use it to replace them.

Even programmers that work on AI aren’t safe. Code-generating AI is here, and threatens to make junior positions even scarcer.

And while these systems have been pushed to replace labor, workers have still needed to fix the generated material, because it’s not that good.

Games are an artform— we should not be automating away human creativity

[next page]

Fight Back

Unions

Tip the balance of power in your workplace! As a union, you can fight the whims of shareholders and save you and your fellow workers’ jobs and dignity!

No more security escorts as you clean out your desk. No more getting locked out of the office without notice. No more finding out you’re unemployed from a press release.

Talk yo your coworkers, party up, level up, and prevail!

Worker Cooperatives

Worker cooperatives are owned and operated by workers. This is a great alternative for workers who are tired of the traditional corporate model and want to take control of their creativity and labor.

Game co-ops are gaining around! Check out KO_OP, Soft Not Weak, Black Flag, Future Club, and more!

[next page]

What You Can Do

1. Wear our pins into the theater! Don’t let security take them, but record them if they do!

2. Post about the layoffs with #TheGameAwards, so it can’t be ignored!

3. Talk to your coworkers privately about unionization- the more people are unionized, the easier it gets and the lore leverage we have.

Learn more at cohost.org/gwsc

[end alt text]

#dragon age #the game awards #bioware

[ddsbturp]

The fucking GALL.

"BioWare attempted to block the picket, claiming that it was not an appropriate location for the rally — the company claimed that the Edmonton office was not the QA workers’ workplace because they worked from home. The Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled in favor of the union, however, as the Keywords testers worked alongside BioWare staff, even if it was just remotely. The picket can’t interrupt access to the building, which houses several offices besides BioWare’s."

WHERE ELSE WOULD THEY BE ABLE TO PICKET, BIOWARE?

THEIR OWN HOMES?!

#n7 day #N7 Severance Day #mass effect #bioware

[gxldencity]

Not to be an asshole about it but I literally couldn't give two shits about the mass effect teaser, knowing that the 50 people bioware laid off in the summer (who on average are industry veterans!!! and have worked at bioware for 14 years, including Mary Kirby of all people) still haven't received proper severance in line with Alberta law.

And like I AM trying to be fair to the people who are excited about it and wanting to talk theories but it's hard. A lot of you know what's going on! A lot of you are aware that they're picketing the Edmonton office while bioware distracts you with cool merch and a teaser for a game we would not see in 10 years or ever. With barely a news about the other game they've been working for 10 years, that had to be restarted to put hands on their failed live service project, that had most of the layoffs from this summer, including two long time writers. Why are we still giving them a chance atp??

#elaine talks #i also dk if i even want to get dreadwolf atp lmao #like i hope they sue bioware to hell #bioware critical #i guess #mass effect

[sarasa-cat]

Reading that recent blog post from the general manager at bioware, i couldn't help snickering and cringing when reading the phrase "emotionally charged, single-player games"

(context: "BioWare is focused on being a leader in developing immersive, emotionally charged, single-player games, with teams primarily in Austin and Edmonton.")

So, emotionally charged is what we're calling it now. Hm.

#probably a shitpost #potentially bioware critical #i mean sure i'll put the next DA game into my queue #but .......

[seeminglyseph]

I’m looking at DAO mods and I feel like I kind of like… just wanna paint textures instead of playing the game. Or both. Like. I want to repaint the textures before I play the game. Which is a weird thing to want to do maybe.

Like my secret desire is actually to just rip all my favourite LIs from Dragon age and get their textures and reskin them.

Also give Solas that Sexy skull and braids and locks and concept design look he had because that was always always better than Egg. Idk who vetoed the concept design in exchange for none design all Egg but they were Incorrect. That was a Bad Decision. I get that yes technically he has freckles and a scar and a cleft chin and droopy eyes and details, yes, but. *but*. He could have been better. He could have been hotter. He could have been Great. The Best character des— no I can’t say that when The Iron Bull is in the same game and exists at the same time. That is in fact the sexiest best character design to ever be made. But Solas had to potential to be better in so many ways and ultimately DAI’s designers could not manage designing hair.

They just could not do it. It was too hard. That’s the conclusion I have come to. They also I think struggled badly when it came to skin textures because like look at the options they had in character creation, they strugggglllleeed. They couldn’t make hair and they couldn’t make skin. They suffered in game design and honestly I think probably EA hit them with crunch and low funding and BioWare was like “we were not equipped to jump into this triple A pool this fast this underfunded oh my god what the fuck what the fuck” and we’re seeing that again with DA4 and that’s why all the people EA would have to pay fairly is getting laid off.

BioWare is getting scapegoated by EA and it kinda breaks my heart as an Albertan because we got bought out and now I think our like. One gaming company is getting sold out and gonna go under and get sold so they can move it all somewhere else with fewer human rights protections (no unions or union protections) and people can say “BioWare did this” and it’s maybe a little more “EA did this to BioWare” and a whole lot of Albertans are Shit Outta Luck in the meantime. Because like, what happened in Montreal after Andromeda? Though Montreal as a Major Metropolitan City with a booming economy has more than a few gaming companies, Edmonton isn’t so big a city (still metropolitan but not nearly the scale of Montreal) and has. Uh. A serious need for jobs in the arts and entertainment industries. BioWare being located in Edmonton Alberta is kinda a Big Deal for Alberta. We need that company there for multiple reasons, in part just for the culture. It would be a big deal if it shut down.

Like I guess this is going a little off topic and deranged but like. Alberta needs BioWare. So like. Idk what solution there is in the end, but like… the people getting screwed over are the people here. And we need the company to stay here. And stay open, and start functioning properly. A lot of Californian Tech companies and Tech laws fucked Canada and Canadian workers, and this is kinda an expansion of that, and like. There’s shit a lot of people outside the bubble don’t know about but like.

Alberta needs industry. We can’t have everything shut their doors and move out and then have a bunch of people in wealthy metropolitan areas go “sucks to suck bro have you tried moving?” Like. We still need our companies and infrastructure and industries to. Function. Lotta us can’t afford to leave. We need this stuff to be here. We need BioWare and companies like this.

Despite what you may have heard, people live out here…

#BioWare #weird Canadian rant #this got wildly off topic #sorry idk what came over me #I also just watched part of a documentary on nortel but I got really depressed lmao #American politics heavily influence Canada and I don’t think people notice??! #but also I feel very powerless sometimes #I am very powerless