It's already been an incredibly difficult week for the industry and now Electronic Arts has revealed it's laying off 5% of its workforce. This roughly equates to about 670 employees.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson cited "accelerating industry transformation" as part of this decision with the company planning to sunset games and move away from the development of "future licensed IP" which it does not believe will be successful.
The "greater focus" from here on out will be on its own "owned IP, sports, and massive online communities".
"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."
Where possible, EA will aim to find new roles and paths for team members. According to some other reports, Respawn's Star Wars action FPS has been cancelled and some other teams have also been impacted.
How do you feel about this? Let us know in the comments.
[source ea.com]
Comments 8
Wow this just doesn’t stop. Very sorry for all those affected. I hope they all find jobs quickly and I hope the gaming market starts to find some balance. This is happening too often. Very sad.
Here we go again!
Bad time to be employed by tech!
Hopefully they all find new and better jobs soon and don't lose their residences/vehicles!
1.I really hate this for all impacted. Hope everyone finds a new position soon.
2.I assume the cancelled FPS project from Respawn is the Mandalorian game we just heard about? If so, what a shame. I have wanted another good Star Wars game of that type since Bounty Hunter and the cancellation of 1313. I was really excited about the possibilities there.
@Savage_Joe sadly once the first company announces lay offs. It gives every other company in the sector an excuse to do it too. Because they can justify it.
Happens across all sectors
“accelerating industry transformation".
No s**t sherlock!!!!
Transforming it into a wasteland of burnout, overwhelmed devs.
Jeez, this crapshoot is never ending.
It’s getting worst for the people that make game for people there is a ideal stop paying utubers and twitch players and your ceo mega money nearly every utuber and twitch gets paid twice or quadruple the wages these people are getting paid so the content this year or next will be not as good as last year the way these companies are sacking people and cancelling games. Just hope this people get jobs soon
@Savage_Joe there is nothing “evil” about trying to bury bad news. It’s basic PR. Those jobs are going either way, whether the press focuses on you or someone else doesn’t change that simple fact one iota.
Tough time for the industry. Wishing all those affected the best. But business needs to be sustainable and profitable to keep investment coming and prevent further layoffs and studio closures. 5% is far less than most at this time.
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