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/ Adam Richardson

BioWare and EA Cut Size of SWTOR Development Team

BioWare and EA have laid off staff at BioWare Austin as Star Wars: The Old Republic slips from 1.7 to 1.4 million subscribers over thin endgame content.

BioWare’s Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have announced a round of layoffs at BioWare Austin, the studio behind Star Wars: The Old Republic. The MMO launched in late 2011 with 1.7 million active subscribers, but a thin endgame and no story past level 50 have pulled that down to 1.4 million.

Restructuring a live MMO’s team this early is a worrying sign for a game that arrived with so much expectation. The official word frames it as right-sizing for the road ahead; for the talented people losing their jobs, that’s cold comfort.