Some Members Of The Developing Team of Star Wars: The Old Republic Get Sacked

Electronic Arts and Bioware confirmed today that their newest MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic has seen some developers off the team. The move to layoff some employees from the team has been called a ‘restructuring’ move from the company. The announcement was made via a public statement from the co-founders of the developers.

In their official public statement, Co-founders Greg Zeschuck and Ray Muzyka expressed their gratitude to the employees that were bid farewell today. The two also said that it was sad for the company to part ways with such talented individuals, but it was a necessary move for the company. They have also confirmed in the public statement that those who parted ways today will be treated with respect and fairness.

Reports suggest that around 200 layoffs hit Bioware this week. This was revealed by the renowned founder of 3D Realms George Broussard in a Tweet. Broussard has been known in the industry to break news about several layoffs that hit big companies. In some of his previous reports, he has also reported layoffs from companies like Sony Entertainment, Warner Brothers and several others.

However, Broussard’s assumption has been challenged by someone who is close to EA. This anonymous person has revealed that the actual number of layoffs is a lot smaller than Broussard has guessed.

Star Wars: The Old Republic was released earlier this year and it immediately saw success with gamers from all around the world. EA reported that the game had 1.7 million subscribers after it was released, however, in an official recent statement that number has fallen to 1.3 million. It is quite surprising to see layoffs hit the development team behind the game because the CEO of the company revealed last year that even 500,000 subscribers on the game would make it profitable. He also said that if the game reaches 1 million plus subscribers, it would become very profitable. If that were true, we should have not Bioware making these layoffs.

Bioware and EA have also started sending numerous emails to the subscribers who left the game to come back and avail new features.