According to a new report by Polygon, the team of Quality Assurance workers who unionized while attached to the upcoming Dragon Age: Dreadwolf from developer Bioware, have been laid off. These staff members, similar to most QA employees, were contractors working for outsourcing giant Keywords.
It has been stated that this group faced an uphill fight to form the union, stemming from arguments surrounding remote work. Obviously getting a union off the ground in the highly resistant video game industry is a struggle, as the Raven Softwares QA team went through a similar fight a few years ago.
Keywords have confirmed the employee’s departure, claiming that this was “the end of a fixed-term client contract”. The group union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, has since filed an employee standards claim against them, claiming “menial severance” was offered.
The departure comes close after 50 members of Bioware’s staff back in August. Many of those positions were filled by 20-year veterans with the studio. Five of those employees recently took further action against the company, filing a lawsuit in which they are seeking further compensation from the company, with a better payout for their years of service.
Among the many layoffs occurring around the industry currently, many of the positions being targeted are in QA departments due to them predominantly being third-party contractors. After Sega Canceled Hyenas the company laid off many QA members with the studio, none of whom were actually assigned to the game.
In the case of Naugty Dog, who recently laid off a number of QA contractors in their company restructuring, it appears that they will be terminated before their contract is set to end with zero severance appearing to be offered. Of all the recent layoffs only Team17, removing 50 employees, will also see their CEO also depart amid the restructuring.
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