Electronic Arts (EA) announced a major company restructuring overnight that will result in layoffs, the closure of a game development studio, and the cancellation of several new games that were in early development. The sweeping changes come as EA shifts its focus to owned intellectual property and seeks to align its business with a rapidly evolving video game industry.
According to EA CEO Andrew Wilson, the restructuring will impact approximately 5% of the company’s total workforce, which equates to roughly 670 employees that will be laid off. Though the layoffs will be widespread, some teams and studios will be impacted more than others. EA has already begun the difficult process of informing affected employees and expects to complete the job cuts by early next quarter.
“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,” said Wilson in a statement to employees. “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.”
Major Layoffs Announced at EA
The company said it will provide career transition assistance and support to affected employees to help them find new roles, either within EA or at other game studios. But for some, the job losses will be permanent.
This marks the second time in under a year that EA has conducted major layoffs, after cutting 6% of staff and 200 quality assurance contractors in early 2023. The repeated workforce reductions reflect EA’s ongoing struggles to align its business model and extensive studio network with shifting industry trends.
Central to the restructuring is a move away from developing licensed intellectual property (IP) like Star Wars and Marvel in favor of focusing on EA’s wholly owned franchises and game properties. EA announced it will cancel an unannounced first-person shooter set in the Star Wars universe that was in early development at Respawn Entertainment, makers of the popular Titanfall and Apex Legends games.
Additionally, EA is shuttering Ridgeline Studios, a newly formed team working on a story campaign for the Battlefield military shooter series. Ridgeline’s staff will be redistributed to other EA studios working on Battlefield, including Ripple Effect, DICE, and Criterion.
On the mobile front, EA announced plans to remove four older titles – Kim Kardashian Hollywood, The Lord of the Rings, Tap Sports Baseball, and F1 Mobile – from app stores so that resources can be concentrated on newer and more popular mobile releases.
Respawn Studio Sees Cancellations, Closure in Restructuring
The sweeping changes show EA’s desire to align its vast studio system and thousands of developers around company-owned franchises like Battlefield, Apex Legends, The Sims, and its prolific sports titles. By focusing in-house, EA hopes to control more of the creative process and economics around its biggest moneymakers rather than licensing valuable IP like Star Wars from Disney.
Still, the short-term impact on affected employees is harsh. The games industry has seen a surge in layoffs recently, with hundreds losing jobs at PlayStation, Microsoft, and across numerous mid-size studios. For those impacted at EA and its studios, the job losses represent a major life disruption and transition.
EA stressed that the restructuring will not affect upcoming Marvel projects in development, like the Iron Man and Black Panther games in the works at Motive and Cliffhanger Studios respectively. Those high-profile licensed games will continue as planned.
But elsewhere, especially on the internal teams working with EA’s wholly owned IP, the sweeping layoffs signal a strategic shift in the company’s business model. By realigning its vast studio network around owned brands instead of licensed franchises, EA hopes to boost creativity, focus innovation, and maximize profits on its biggest properties.
