Baldur's Gate 3 publisher thinks developers should become pirates to clean up BioWare's act

Recent layoffs at BioWare, developer of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, have sparked widespread conversation about the current state of the gaming industry. Larian Studios' publishing director, Michael Daus, has again taken to social media to address this issue, emphasizing the importance of valuing employees and holding leadership accountable for job losses.

Daus argues that significant layoffs between or after project completion are avoidable. He stresses the critical role of retaining institutional knowledge for future projects. While acknowledging the financial pressures that sometimes necessitate "trimming the fat," he questions the excessive efficiency drives of large corporations, suggesting they are often unnecessary. This aggressive cost-cutting, he points out, is only effective if a company consistently releases successful titles. Layoffs, he concludes, are a drastic, ultimately flawed, solution.

Daus highlights the inherent problem: poor strategic planning by upper management often leads to the dismissal of lower-level employees. He uses the analogy of a pirate ship, where the captain would be the first to be sacrificed, suggesting a similar approach should be adopted by video game companies.