EA has announced it will be laying off 670 employees, or 5% of its workforce. This follows the layoffs from the same company that in 2023, where EA released 800 employees, or 8% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring effort. You’d think they were done, but it seems like every year is a new opportunity to lay off people.
In addition, EA has stated it will double down on its own IPs and is moving away from working on licensed IPs, according to EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson.
We are also sunsetting games and moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry. This greater focus allows us to drive creativity, accelerate innovation, and double down on our biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities — to deliver the entertainment players want today and tomorrow. Lastly, we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere that build community, shape culture, and grow fandom.”
This means that any title that EA was working on that was a licensed IP can and possibly will be canceled. As I was writing this up, Stephen Totilo, formerly of MTV News, Kotaku, and Axios, reported that the Star Wars FPS that EA was working on had been canceled.
Respawn's Star Wars FPS cancelled
Ridgeline winding down as a standalone studio, with development of the single-player part of Battlefield moving to Criterion
All part of the big job cuts at EA todayhttps://t.co/IZsSsRX4Pz
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) February 28, 2024
This begs to ask about any possible follow-up to the Star Wars series that Respawn worked on or if the Black Panther game that was being developed by Cliffhanger Games, a new EA studio helmed by Kevin Stephens, would be next. I know they said they would stop working on games they “believe will be successful in our changing industry.” But how do you know if a game is going to be successful or not? We’ve seen major games from companies that were thought to be successful games, only not to meet the sales expectations and be considered a failure. This feels like an excuse to cancel anything they don’t want to focus on or possibly cost more to develop than planned.
What’s ironic is EA has singlehandedly ruined several IPs that were either created by the company or absorbed by them, including Anthem, Oddworld, Dungeon Keeper, Dead Space (though that remake was an amazing comeback), Burnout, Simcity, Fight Night, and I’d argue Mass Effect. So, where does this leave the company? I suppose we’ll find out.
As someone who grew up wiht the gaming industry and always wanted to be a part of it, the last few years have been pretty discouraging. It wasn’t just yesterday that Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed it planned to lay off 900 employees from various departments, including the shuttering of PlayStation Studios London.
We’re watching the gaming industry implode, and it’s beyond frustrating as we sit helpless to do anything about it. All we can do is hope that everyone affected finds new jobs and can take care of themselves.
Sigh.
Here’s Kevin’s full note if you care to read it.
Team,
We are entertaining, inspiring, and connecting more people with more content and deeper experiences than ever before. Over the last year, we have organized our company to further empower our creative leaders to deliver our strategic priorities of entertaining massive online communities, telling blockbuster stories, and harnessing the power of community in and around our games. These actions have positioned us to build bigger, bolder experiences for hundreds of millions of players and fans around the world.
We are also leading through an accelerating industry transformation where player needs and motivations have changed significantly. Fans are increasingly engaging with the largest IP, and looking to us for broader experiences where they can play, watch, create content, and forge deeper connections. Our industry exists at the cutting edge of entertainment, and in today’s dynamic environment, we are advancing the way we work and continuing to evolve our business.
As a company full of creators and storytellers, we believe in the value of teams innovating together, and continue to learn and adopt new ways of collaborating to grow and serve our global communities. Given how and where we are working, we are continuing to optimize our global real estate footprint to best support our business. We are also sunsetting games and moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry. This greater focus allows us to drive creativity, accelerate innovation, and double down on our biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities — to deliver the entertainment players want today and tomorrow. Lastly, we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere that build community, shape culture, and grow fandom.
In this time of change, we expect these decisions to impact approximately 5 percent of our workforce. I understand this will create uncertainty and be challenging for many who have worked with such dedication and passion and have made important contributions to our company. While not every team will be impacted, this is the hardest part of these changes, and we have deeply considered every option to try and limit impacts to our teams. Our primary goal is to provide team members with opportunities to find new roles and paths to transition onto other projects. Where that’s not possible, we will support and work with each colleague with the utmost attention, care, and respect. Communicating these impacts has already begun and will be largely completed by early next quarter.
I want to extend my appreciation to everyone who has helped contribute to EA’s ongoing story. We are a team that leans into our values to lead the future of entertainment, and I look forward to what we will create together. Thank you for all that you do.
