In mid-2022, Quality Assurance (QA) testers for the fourth installment in the Dragon Age series, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, unionized with hopes of gaining better working conditions. Today, news broke that all of the unionized workers have been laid off.
When the QA workers formed, they created Canada’s first games industry union. This union comes despite the decline in North American unions that started in the 1950s. Canada’s unionized workers are only at 29%, 9% down since the 80s. Still, they’re doing better than the United States, who only have 11.3% of unionized workers as of 2022. The games industry itself came late to the unionization party, with the first North America one being formed in 2021.
The QA workers from Keywords Studios were laid off on September 27th, 2023 after BioWare, Dreadwolf’s developer, decided to not renew their contract. Keywords Studios’ global head of marketing, Liz Corless, wrote in an email “We can confirm that regrettably, the 13 Edmonton-based staff have now left the business following the end of a fixed term client contract.”
James Russwurm, who was part of the QA team, says that Keywords Studios states there is “no more work available.” Russwurm also stated that Keywords Studios offered “minimal severance,” and that the union is filing official complaints. Although the union did not have an official contract with Keywords Studios, they can still negotiate for better pay.
This isn’t the first time BioWare has been associated with layoffs. Just earlier this week, a lawsuit against the company was filed by seven employees regarding wrongful termination. The employees were part of around 50 that were laid off in August, following a similar round of layoffs at their parent organization, EA.
Despite the layoffs, Dreadwolf is still in development, although its release date has been pushed further back. It could be released as late as March 2025–nearly 7 years after its announcement at The Game Awards 2018. In the meantime, news and updates are being broadcast via the series’ site.