BioWare Employee Reviews about "really great"
73% would recommend to a friend
(8 total reviews)
Andrew Wilson
86% approve of CEO
Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "There are a lot of amazing talented people there and EA offers great support to help in wfh and work / life balance." (in 27 reviews)
- "10 years ago, and reflects in the # of senior managers that have either left or been let go" (in 3 reviews)
- "Many employees are expected to specialize in a particular aspect of their discipline, and there are few opportunities for leadership." (in 3 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of BioWare and is not affected by filters.
Found 8 of over 133 reviews
Updated Sep 6, 2023
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Reviews about "really great"
Return to all Reviews- 5.0Feb 16, 2015Software EngineerFormer EmployeeAustin, TX
Pros
Talented, passionate people all over the place. I particularly want to call out the embedded QA analysts (if you get a contract QA position I highly recommend pursuing any of these opportunities that open up) and our community/marketing teams which do a really great job of engaging the community and looking through data to make sure that we're using our finite resources to develop parts of the game that keep players happy. EA has great benefits - great medical/dental, 401k, employee stock purchase plan, charity donation matching, tuition reimbursement, active living benefit, free games, etc etc etc. EA has an 'evil empire' reputation, but they actually put a lot of effort in to taking care of their employees. You'll have coworkers all over the age/gender/sexual orientation/racial/religious/political/diet/brogrammerness/shoe size map. It's not an echo chamber. Not so much crunch time and boom-and-bust as other game studios. There aren't massive layoffs all the time and crunch time is kept pretty minimal compared to previous sudios I've been at. I'll second the reviews saying communication from studio management is abundant and informative. You always know what the studio's goals are and how your role plays in to it.
Cons
I agree with the reviews lamenting the contract vs full time split. There's a place for contract-to-hire, but when half your staff is temp segregating them is really demoralizing. Fortunately managment uses temp positions much more sanely now. The Heroblade middleware is pretty universally loathed. There are a lot of negative reviews for the contract QA jobs, and yeah those jobs suck but they just kind of suck everywhere. If you can land an embedded job you're going to have a highly respected role and challenging work that affords you a lot of autonomy.
3 - 5.0Dec 27, 2012Environment ArtistFormer Employee, more than 3 yearsAustin, TX
Pros
Great IPs to work with, lots of emphasis on personal input, management is open to listening to your ideas and is generally concerned with your work satisfaction. There was a really great emphasis on work/life balance as well.
Cons
I don't have too many cons to report. I had a great experience during my tenure at the studio.
- 3.0Dec 20, 2019QA TesterCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearEdmonton, AB
Pros
Free food, low expectations, had a really great immediate manager (Dan is amazing!)
Cons
Put us into a dark room with no lights or windows called 'the pit' for 8 to 12 hours a day, a few (not all) of the FT staff clearly demonstrated little respect for contract/QA testers and got away with it
2 - 2.0Apr 6, 2015DesignerCurrent Employee, more than 5 yearsEdmonton, AB
Pros
-Lots of really great people -Moving between departments is relatively easy -Projects are pretty cool.
Cons
-Tons of politics and drama -Zero support for innovation unless it's a lead's pet project -Rotten core of senior leadership that does nothing to improve the situation -There is almost no room for advancement unless you're a friend of one of the 'old guard'. -Crunch - all of the crunch. Every project I've worked on has resulted in 80 - 100 hour weeks for at least 6 months.
9 - 4.0Aug 10, 2008Project ManagerCurrent EmployeeEdmonton, AB
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.
1 - 4.0Apr 1, 2016QA TesterFormer Contractor, less than 1 yearEdmonton, AB
Pros
- Strong employee benefits - Positive helpful work environment - Fun and engaging coworkers. - Industry's best and brightest - Really great ergonomics (this is super nice)
Cons
- Little to no room for further growth. - Connection means very little for future attempts at full-time work there. - Lots of overtime, but this can be a positive if you want that. - Quality of life can vary from team manager to team manager
- 2.0Jun 20, 2012Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee
Pros
It is possible to learn the ropes of the industry in a short while Peers are basically nice experienced and intelligent but there are some major douches Support personal are helpful but the work environment is only OK not great.
Cons
Maintaining the status quo is the most important element of the work environment so it is difficult for the company to innovate and compete in rapidly changing markets . People are very busy with guarding their backs and advancing their own positions (on the expense of others) so lots of effort is invested in inner politics and behind the back talks, all those machinations are nonconstructive, unpleasant and stressful, also not the most talented or experienced people call the shots its mostly the better politicians. When employees are guarding their positions like that it is definitely difficult for talented and innovative people to actually have impact and for the company to focus on making really great and innovative games. A very bureaucratic environment which also hinders agile operation. There was no formal training, orientation, feedback or reviews it was just a guessing game.
6 - 4.0Jan 26, 2021Level Designer (Contract)Current ContractorAustin, TX
Pros
Began working during quarantine in 2020 before they had their work from home information ready to go. Everyone was very accommodating and the project workflow was a great learning environment since this was my first AAA position. Everyone was really great with onboarding and teaching new material over remote work.
Cons
Began working during remote work and never would see the office or any of my co-workers in person. The biggest con is COVID-19.
