Within days of PlayStation announcing mass layoffs affect 900 jobs, another major publisher has announced a significant reduction in its workforce in the form of Electronic Arts. The company confirms it will be laying off 5% of its total workforce, which is roughly 670 people.
In a message sent to employees, EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated that the company plans to pivot away from future licensed IP development, something it doesn’t believe is going to be successful “in our changing industry”, and will instead shift focus to its owned IP, sports games, and online experiences.
“Given how and where we are working, we are continuing to optimize our global real estate footprint to best support our business,” Wilson said. “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.”
Wilson says some impacted employees will be given opportunities for new roles working on different projects, though as you might imagine, there will be many who won’t fall in that category.
“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,” he said. 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.”
As part of these layoffs, EA has also announced that it’s shutting down Ridgeline Games entirely, which was established in 2021 to develop narrative-driven single player campaigns for future Battlefield titles.
Currently, has several major licensed IP titles announced, with Black Panther, Iron Man, and Respawn Entertainment’s single player Star Wars FPS. Of those, the latter has been cancelled. The two Marvel titles, however, are still in development.