Ne sjećam se kad je jedan članak podignuo toliko prašine kao onaj o trenutnom stanju BioWare-a. Jasno je svima da je BioWare trenutno duboko podijeljena kompanija koju karakterizira užasna radna klima, animozitet BioWare Edmontona i Austina.
Studio je trenutno u jako lošem mentalnom stanju, a posljedica i rezultat svega lošeg što se događa još od Mass Effect Andromede je činjenica da je sadašnji BioWare samo sjena nekoć slavnog studija.
Sve o problemima, raspadu sistema u kompaniji, mobingu i svemu drugom, možete čitati u članku ispod.
Nakon sramotnog PR odgovora, konačno priznanje problema
Sramotni i generični PR odgovor iz BioWare možete također pročitati u gornjem članku, ali ukratko rečeno, prvo su sve negirali i štoviše, optužili su novinare za negativnu klimu u igraćoj industriji.
I tako je sve bilo, dok CEO studija Casey Hudson u velikom i dugačkom obraćanju zaposlenicima nije priznao da postoji problem, ali da će on kao CEO napraviti sve da se stanje u kompaniji popravi. I to je jedini ispravan način da se prizna problem, a ne da sve sve stavlja pod tepih jer negiranjem problema se ništa neće riješiti.
Zaista je nužno da Casey uvede reda u raspadnuti sustav jer evidentno (joj Vlaoviću) je da je BioWare izgubio magiju. Sve je to u glavi i psihi jer ne vjerujem da su zaboravili raditi igre, ali uz sve probleme i takvu klimu, jednostavno ne možete raditi kako treba.
Čitavo pismo ćemo postati ovdje, pa svakako pročitajte. Nadamo se da će cijela ova “halabuka” oko studija i igre, ipak pokrenuti stvari na bolje. Želimo to zbog njih, ali i sebe jer Dragon Age 4 nam dolazi.
Hey BioWare,
I wanted to get a note out to you to share my thoughts on the Kotaku article and the online discussion it has raised.
The article mentions many of the problems in the development of Anthem and some of our previous projects. And it draws a link between those issues and the quality of our workplace and the well-being of our staff. These problems are real and it’s our top priority to continue working to solve them.
What we found out-of-bounds was the naming of specific developers as targets for public criticism. It’s unfair and extremely traumatizing to single out people in this way, and we can’t accept that treatment towards any of our staff. That’s why we did not participate in the article and made a statement to that effect.
When I was offered the opportunity to return to BioWare as GM, I came into the role knowing the studio was experiencing significant challenges in team health, creative vision, and organizational focus. I was – and continue to be – excited to help drive improvements in those areas because I love this studio, and above all I want to create a place where all of you are happy and successful.
I’m not going to tell you I’ve done a good job at that, and on a day like today I certainly feel like I haven’t. But some of the steps we’ve taken towards this include a more focused studio mission and values, so that we have clarity on what we are here to do and how we define a high standard for our studio culture. We updated our studio structure around a matrix so that department directors can be fully focused on individual career support and well-being.We are defining better role clarity so that people can succeed better against clear expectations. And we are putting in place production changes that will provide for clearer project vision as well as a significant post-production period that will further relieve pressure and anxiety on teams during development.
But I know there’s much more to do, and we will talk in more detail about other actions we have been planning in response to internal feedback and postmortems at next week’s All-Hands. As always please continue to provide feedback on further steps we can take to make BioWare the best possible place to work.
I’m committed to getting us to a place where we are delivering on the highest expectations for BioWare games, through a work environment that’s among the very best in the world. With your help, we will get there.
Please let me know if you’d like to talk in person and I will be happy to set up to hear your thoughts.
Casey
