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Image credit: BioWare, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf
In response to the recent layoffs at BioWare, a group of former employees affected by the downsizing has initiated legal action, seeking better severance pay.
In August, BioWare made the decision to lay off 50 employees, emphasizing that it was necessary to "preserve the health of the studio", improve their ability to create the story-driven, single-player experiences they are famous for, and ensure that "Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is an outstanding game". Out of those 50 people affected by the layoffs, seven have now filed a lawsuit against BioWare, aiming to secure better severance compensation.
The filing of a lawsuit in Canada was disclosed by John Renish, a former Technical Director at BioWare, who worked on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and was a part of downsizing. He posted on Twitter that the employees were terminated without specifying any reasons.
According to his tweet, in such cases, the Canadian court rules in favor of the plaintiffs and awards them a severance package based on their years of service, amounting to one month's pay per year worked at the company. However, the compensation offered to the employees was significantly lower than this amount. Some of them attempted to negotiate with the studio, but the discussions did not lead to any resolution.
In the letter, it's also mentioned that the fired employees might find it difficult to find new jobs before the holidays, especially considering that BioWare's NDAs prevent them from showcasing their latest work on Dreadwolf.
"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 BioWare: 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 terminated employee. "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."
Understanding the challenges employees face in this rapidly changing industry, many people express their support and wish them to win this fight. Among others, David Gaider, the Co-founder and Creative Director at Summerfall Studios, voiced disappointment in BioWare through a tweet, joining others in sharing their concerns.
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