BioWare Reviews

Pros

Great work environment. Everyone is hardworking and excited about the product. There are a lot of team buiding events that make the weeks enjoyable.

Cons

The only down side is that it is a volatile industry. Gaming companies have to stay competitive, and thuse there is a lot of transitions that happen within the departments, and between companies in the gaming industry.

Advice to Senior Management

Communication is a difficult aspect to manage in any company. Bioware has a lot of highly trained, technical people. These talented people dont necessarily communicate with eachother very well, however. My advice would be to cultivate leaders and managers that can pull these talented people together, and leverage their skills more effectively.

Pros

I have had some of the most memorable moments of my career here at Bioware, and working alongside people with such dedication to quality is truly an honor. We are proud of what we are making every day here, and it shows in the end result.

Cons

If you have never lived at this elevation and latitude, then you may not be ready for the cold climate here.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep watching out for the little guy, and pushing the senior leadership within EA to raise the quality bar for our projects. We really appreciate it.

Pros

Free breakfast every morning. Free tacos on Fridays. A chance to work with some amazingly talented and creative people.

Cons

Over two-thirds of the employees are contract workers. This creates a very distinct caste system between the "have's" (the full time employees) and the "have not's" (the contract workers). There is an unspoken implication that if a contractor works hard enough that they will be offered a full time position, but often this isn't the case. Who gets hired and who doesn't is incredibly arbitrary. Also, there is an expectation that the employee will sacrifice their lives and the lives of their families to work whatever overtime hours the supervisors demand. One "crunch" period consisted of 12 straight days of work. 7 of those 12 were 12 HOUR days. The overtime was mandatory and contract employees were fired if they did not comply with these demands.

Advice to Senior Management

Do not treat the contract employees as if they are juvenile delinquents in a boarding school. Be more sympathetic to work/life balance issues. You're making a GAME, not curing cancer.

Pros

Good company before EA buyout

Cons

Ea is destroying what was once a good company

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the old Bioware culture.

Pros

BioWare develops great games, has a solid team, and supports their employees. Few other employers offer a similar challenge and scope of work.

Cons

Crushing schedules, face paced work environment can be overwhelming. Occasionally employees get railroaded into working on projects outside of their job description.

Advice to Senior Management

This is a competitive industry and companies must push their employees to ship titles on time, however, maintaining your talent pool is also important. There must be a balance.

Pros

BioWare is a great company - a real gem in the video game industry. Employees are treated as part of the team. They are respected and given opportunities to learn and advance. The senior managers, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, are excellent businesspeople and very open-minded. They provide a great place to work and really care about their colleagues.

Cons

The location - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - isn't great. It would be better if the company were located in a city with other game industry businesses so that there were a better talent pool to hire from. The company has grown a lot in the last 10 years. It might be good to rethink some of the organizational structures in order to prepare for even more growth.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow executives to take initiative in reforming some older company structures and bringing them up-to-date given the many changes the company has undergone recently.