Following its decision to cut six percent of its workforce last March, EA announced another round of layoffs, this time affecting 5 percent of its staff (about 670 employees), as it moves away from the “future licensed intellectual property” to your “intellectual property.” sports and massive online communities.
in a email to staff announcing today's layoffsEA CEO Andrew Wilson said the cuts were part of an ongoing effort to “optimize our global real estate footprint to better support our business.”
To achieve its goals, Wilson said EA will “simplify [its] “company operations”, “end gaming and move away from the development of future licensed intellectual property that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry.” Additionally, it will “double our greatest opportunities, including our intellectual property, sports, and massive online communities.”
As a result, approximately five percent of EA's workforce will lose their jobs, a move that Wilson admitted would “create uncertainty and be challenging for many who have worked with such dedication and passion and made important contributions to our company.”
“While not all teams will be affected,” Wilson continued, “this is the most difficult part of these changes and we have deeply considered all options to try to limit the impacts on our teams. Our primary goal is to provide members of the team opportunities to find new roles and paths to transition to other projects. Where that is not possible, we will support and work with each colleague with the utmost attention, care and respect.”
According to Wilson, EA has already begun “communicating these impacts” to staff, and the process will be “largely completed by early next quarter.” Today's layoffs follow an initial round of job cuts at the publisher last March, which is believed to have affected around 775 people, and further layoffs at EA-owned F1 developer Codemasters in December.
Notably, while Wilson and EA could be looking to move away from licensed IP in the future, the publisher has previously confirmed that it has five high-profile licensed games in the works: two based on Marvel properties (Black Panther and Iron Man) and three. Star Wars titles. An EA representative has told GamesIndustry.biz the two Marvel projects are still in development; however, in a separate note for EA employees, Laura Miele, president of EA Entertainment and Technology, revealed that the company's strategic shift resulted in the cancellation of Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars FPS (supposedly a Mandalorian title). Additionally, Miele announced that EA will “close” Ridgeline Games, whose single-player Battlefield game will now be handled by Criterion. Ridgeline founder, Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto, recently confirmed his departure from the Seattle-based developer.
Today's layoffs are just the latest in what is turning out to be a devastating 2024 for gaming industry employees. In just under two months, more than 7,500 workers have lost their jobs, compared to the already substantial 9,000 layoffs seen throughout 2023. This week alone, Sony announced that it will lay off 900 employees worldwide, while the developer of Until Dawn, Supermassive, eliminated 90 jobs. , Life is Strange: True Colors studio Deck Nine confirmed it will be laying off approximately 20 percent of its total workforce, job cuts were reported at Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games and Saltsea Chronicles studio Die Gute Fabrik revealed that it had been forced to stop production and all team members are now looking for new work.
