BioWare GM Hudson’s note begins by recognizing the Kotaku article and the online discussion revolving around it, specifically with regards to the “quality of our workplace” at BioWare and the “well-being of our staff.” In contrast to BioWare’s initial publicly-released response to the article, put out before it was even possible for BioWare employees to have read it, Hudson acknowledges the problems at BioWare without caveat. “These problems are real and it’s our top priority to continue working to solve them.”
Neither does Hudson shy away from personal responsibility for the state of BioWare during Anthem’s development either, despite joining the project late in its development. With regards to creating a studio where employees are happy and successful, he says, “I’m not going to tell you I’ve done a good job at that, and on a day like today I certainly feel I haven’t.” He then reaffirms his commitment to building a work environment that’s “among the very best in the world.”
Hudson does break down some of the actions the studio is already moving forward on to deliver on this commitment to improvement:
The follow-up to that statement recognizes that there is “much more to do,” followed by encouragement to employees to continue providing feedback.
A memo that was written with an awareness that it would be made public obviously isn’t a reliable source for gauging BioWare leadership’s true views or goals. Nevertheless, it is an important achievement drawn out by Kotaku’s investigation in that it has established at least one important factor: accountability. BioWare’s employees now have something they can reference, written by the company’s leadership, to hold the company to account going forward. That isn’t much, as any promise can be broken and Hudson’s left BioWare before, but it is something.
Consumers and Anthem players shouldn’t necessarily draw any further conclusions from Hudson’s note. It has little to do with the state of Anthem or the game’s future. The game’s issues and future development remains to be addressed, but will likely only be done when BioWare is confident it has something to show from its efforts. The “April Update” currently being discussed by Anthem developers is the nearest opportunity for such a conversation.
Anthem is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Kotaku
