As we reported yesterday, BioWare have announced layoffs within the SWTOR. It’s been widely reported (here’s a perspective from Austin Texas’ own newspaper), but one extra detail that’s come out is that Senior Community Coordinator Stephen Reid is one of those who has been laid off.
As a non-US site we had a little less contact with Stephen than some, but the contacts we did have were very productive and informative – our podcast discussion with him was wide-ranging and delivered a lot of great information including the acknowledgement of an LFG being in development.
All that said, he was (unfairly) a lightning rod for discontent throughout the lead-up to launch and in the weeks afterwards – and he appeared to take it all with good grace.
As we said yesterday, these things are never pleasant, but we wish Stephen the best in whatever comes next, we will miss trawling the Rockjaw Twitter account for snippets of info. And we’re also confident he’ll find the pic on this post appropriate!
As far as conjecture on what this means more widely – we still hold to the belief it’s a normal post-launch shakeout, as unpleasant as it is for those involved. There’s also some reportage that development may spread out to multiple studios:
With layoffs in the Austin team, it appears continued development on The Old Republic will involve multiple studios. In a comment to Shacknews, an EA representative told us that “BioWare Austin remains a large and important part of BioWare and EA, working with other studios around the world to continue to deliver a high-quality service and exciting new content for Star Wars: The Old Republic.”
It’s over to you: what say you on these recent developments?
Loading ...
Sad to see anyone losing their jobs.. hopefully most will move on to bigger and better things.
Writing has been on the wall for months. SWTOR is dying. As for Reid… he was ineffectual and inept when it came to the pre-order debacle, the ‘global’ launch fiasco, and the post release disappointment.
Far too soon to be saying SWTOR is dying. I’m afraid your comment is typical of people who expect everything perfect and everything now. Things will improve although all the ‘wow killer’ predictions that were made pre-launch are as absurd as pre-emptive obituaries now. Stephen Reid and those in his line of work are perfect examples of being between a rock and a hard place, frequently sacrificial lambs offered up to deliver information on decisions they have little influence over. Hopefully Salomaye and those of a similar mindset have unsubscribed and are now enjoying GWII or DIII.
Have, and am.
Far too soon? I think not… most population estimates are at about 300k subscribers. I am playing D3 now, and I’ll certainly never go back. GW2 will be the final nail in the coffin.
Haters like Salomaye there… If the game is dying and so much is bad about it. Why are you still reading TOR fansites. Go troll the WoW forums. Lots of your kindred idiot spirits over there
You stay classy SWTOR.
Finally, bioware’s first good move ever since this disastrous
campaign. In the name of god go Steven Reid! And bloody good riddens! You’re a useless no hoper
and your total lack of communication during the pre-orders was appalling. You’ll be easy to
replace! A nutless monkey could do your job, seriously! A NUTLESS MONKEY COULD
DO YOUR JOB! Better join the line up at the unemployment office you lousy
fat pom!
Stephen’s performance during the oceanic debacle was terrible. There was a complete lack of respect for those in the “red zone”. We just wanted a little communication from the community manager, and all Stephen delivered was misinformation. I’m not surprised staff are being fired. No company should be expected to keep such useless people on their payroll. It’s easy to see why the game is beginning to wane, and why it will continue to decline in subscription numbers. Atleast in the near future you guys won’t have to worry about paying 15 bucks a month for such an abysmal disappointment.
It was matter of time. STWOR is a sinking ship, and just like
the titanic it’s sinking fast! No matter how many people Bioware decide to sack
it won’t save them. I’ve cancelled my subscription, and I’m off to greener
pastures. Let STWOR rot in the septic tank along with the rest of the garbage
mmos out there. As for you Steven, hopefully we won’t see you again.
It really is sinking at an astounding rate…. I knew once I got to 50 that this was going down in giant ball of flames… Granted they have a lot of competition (I just permanently left for D3 – which btw is incredible) But it’s sad to see so many lose their jobs. My heart goes out to them.