Baldur's Gate 3 Publisher Urges Devs to Embark on Piracy

Recent layoffs at BioWare, the studio behind 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 layoffs.

Daus argues that significant developer layoffs between or after projects 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 that such aggressive cost-cutting, manifested in layoffs, is ultimately counterproductive except in cases of consistently successful releases.

He points out that the strategic decisions made by upper management are the root cause of these problems, yet lower-level employees consistently bear the brunt of the consequences. He uses the analogy of a pirate ship, where the captain would be the first to be sacrificed, to illustrate how game development companies should prioritize their workforce.