All unionized Dragon Age: Dreadwolf QA workers have been laid off

All of Keywords Studios’ unionized QA workers were laid off from the studio in late September after Dragon Age: Dreadwolf BioWare, the developer of BioWare games, declined to renew its contract with August.

In June 2022, the QA employees who had been contracted by BioWare Edmonton to help with quality assurance and playtesting won their vote for unionization. All 16 eligible voters said “yes” to joining United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401. The vote was historic, as it made the group Canada’s first union for the games industry. The workers at Keywords Studios were bargaining with their company after hearing about the 50 job reductions announced by BioWare.

A UFCW representative told Polygon that 13 people were laid off — everyone supporting BioWare. Liz Corless, Keywords Studios’ global head of marketing, confirmed that 13 Edmonton-based QA workers were laid off.

“We can confirm that regrettably the 13 Edmonton-based staff have now left the business following the end of a fixed term client contract,” Corless wrote in an email.

A group of employees was terminated on September 27. Corless added that Keywords Studios has “taken the position there is no more work available.” (Keywords Studios has several QA job postings listed on its website, in Canada and across the world. Some of the job listings are for language localization, and may require particular skills that layoffs lack.

Russwurm confirmed that the union had filed a complaint about Keywords Studios’ employment practices this week. He added that Keywords Studios offered “minimal severance,” which the union is disputing. The union has yet to receive severance, according to him. (Several BioWare employees laid off at that time are currently suing the company for “adequate severance.” These are two separate issues with two separate companies, however, despite being linked to Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.)

The unionized QA staff did not yet hold a contract at Keywords Studios. However, they are still able to bargain for severance payments that will be more generous.

Keywords Studios, with its headquarters in Ireland, has over 20 offices worldwide. The studio was founded in 1998, and does not publish or develop its own games — instead, it provides art, QA, audio, and other development support for other studios, like BioWare.