The recent layoffs at BioWare, the creators of the upcoming game Dragon Age: The Veilguard, have sparked a broader conversation about the state of the gaming industry. This issue was further highlighted by Michael Daus, the publishing director of Larian Studios, who took to social media to express his views on the matter. Daus emphasized the importance of valuing employees and suggested that accountability should rest with decision-makers rather than regular staff.
He argued that it's possible to avoid large-scale layoffs between or after projects, stressing the importance of retaining institutional knowledge for the success of future endeavors. Daus critiqued the common corporate justification of "trimming the fat" as a way to address financial difficulties, questioning the necessity of such aggressive efficiency measures in large corporations.
Daus pointed out that while this approach might be justified if companies were consistently releasing successful games, using layoffs as a primary cost-cutting measure is not the solution. He highlighted that the real problem lies in the strategies devised by those at the top of the corporate hierarchy, yet it is the employees at the bottom who bear the brunt of these decisions. In a striking analogy, Daus suggested that video game companies should be managed more like pirate ships, where the captain, or the decision-makers, would be held accountable for the ship's direction and success.
