BioWare layoff updates

 It has been a sad couple of days for many BioWare employers as many have to look for a new job. Today we can confirm that Stephen Reid was in fact one of the of the team members who have to look for a new job. On his  Facebook and Twitter he gave the following statement:

Today my life’s next chapter starts. Lost track of how many chapters so far… but time to turn the page.

I was one of those affected by layoffs at BioWare Austin yesterday. I got to build an amazing team while I was there, and miss them already.
I’m also going to miss #SWTOR and the community we created. Sure, I know some of you hated me, but hey, I still worked hard for you. 🙂
I’ll be Twitter-quiet for a bit, but I’ll be back soon-ish. Doing something, somewhere, and talking about it here. I hope we keep talking.
Last but not least: I was quiet for the last couple of weeks because I was full-on devoted to #SWTOR character transfer. It’s still coming!
Now I’ve got to go, because you don’t want to see a grown man cry on Twitter. Also, I don’t know the emoticon for it. 🙂
Don’t lose faith. They’re still devoted to making a great game. 🙂
It’s a wide-open space right now. Big, full of possibilities, and scary as hell. Thanks for everything guys.

Associate Online Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez also posted  a message on behalf of the entire BioWare Community Team regarding the  layoffs and their consequences:

Hi everyone,

I’ll start off by calling out the elephant in the room: yes, there was some restructuring here at the studio recently and we had to bid farewell to some of our colleagues and yes, we are all deeply saddened by this.
Their work and dedication to SWTOR will not be forgotten.
Here on the community team, we’ve had a bit of time to process this and we’re beginning to look towards the future of SWTOR’s community and what it means for you and for our team.
In the upcoming weeks, we’re going to be making a few changes and working on new initiatives in order to enhance our relationship with you, the fans, and with our developers. We’ll also be reintroducing the team so that you can get to know us a bit more.
As Greg Zeschuk mentioned in his forum post, we still have plenty of new, exciting content and features for the game, and we’re going to need your continued involvement and feedback.
Rest assured that the community team is still here, still listening: whether it’s here in our forums, on our official twitter account, one of the many fan sites, or the SWTOR subreddit.

Thank you all for your continuing support.

Once again we here at swtorstrategies would like to add our deepest sympathies with anyone who got the axe.