BioWare's SWTOR team hit with layoffs after restructuring

Five months after launching Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare has laid off an unspecified number of employees from the team that worked on its first MMO due to restructuring. The restructuring will only affect BioWare Austin, the primary developer of the game (though BioWare Edmonton also assisted with the title). The Electronic Arts subsidiary has not disclosed what its restructuring entailed, but it's common for many companies to trim their teams after an MMO's launch. Electronic Arts also declined to say how many workers have been impacted, but it told Gamasutra that some will be able to join other projects within the company, while others will leave. "These are very difficult decisions, but it allows us to focus our staff to maintain and grow Star Wars: The Old Republic," said a representative. This news follows shortly after Electronic Arts revealed that its subscriber numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic have slipped recently, falling from 1.7 million paid members in February to 1.3 million. The publisher blamed the drop-off on fewer trial players and on casual customers who decided to not keep their subscriptions going. "Impacting people's lives this way is always very hard, but we're ensuring the affected people are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect," said the company's CEO Ray Muzyka and vice president Greg Zeschuk in a joint statement. The two co-founders claim they still have "a very substantial development team" working on supporting and growing Star Wars: The Old Republic.