Bioware Austin has announced that staff layoffs have occurred as part of a “restructuring” move by the Electronic Arts owned developer.

“BioWare has restructured its studio in Austin today. Of the employees impacted, some will be able to join other projects within EA, others will leave the company. These are very difficult decisions, but it allows us to focus our staff to maintain and grow Star Wars: The Old Republic,” a spokesperson told Game Informer.

“BioWare Austin remains a large and important part of BioWare and EA, working with other studios around the world to continue to deliver a high-quality service and exciting new content for Star Wars: The Old Republic.”

After losing nearly twenty-five percent of its subscription base, this was perhaps inevitable. Totals peaked around 1.7 million but those numbers have crashed to Earth in recent weeks with upwards of 400,000 canceling their subscriptions. It’s a big disappointment for both Bioware and Lucasarts, which had pinned a great deal of hope on the game taking a bite out of the crowded MMO market.

Unfortunately, the end result seemed to be a game that didn’t please nearly enough people. Those hoping for a robust MMO like World of Warcraft were left disappointed by the somewhat shaky gameplay mechanics and those wishing for a storytelling experience on-par with the Knights of the Old Republic franchise didn’t quite get the depth they were promised.

For Bioware, it’s been a year they’ll wish to forget. In addition to the struggles of The Old Republic, their marquee release of the year in Mass Effect 3 was met by fiery scorn by hardcore fans for what they deemed to be an unacceptable ending to a critically acclaimed trilogy.