Big layoffs at major game companies continue; with cuts explained as a move to ‘optimize our global real estate footprint to best support our business,’ the gaming behemoth will also sunset games and ‘move away from the development of future licensed IP’ that will be unsuccessful in the ‘changing industry;’ company drops Star Wars shooter development.
Is it something in the water? Electronic Arts (EA) has announced plans to lay off approximately 5% of its workforce, a sum of around 670 workers, estimates Variety. The grave news was revealed in a recent “update” letter from CEO Andrew Wilson.
“In this time of change, we expect these decisions to impact approximately 5 percent of our workforce,” Wilson wrote. “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.”
“We are entertaining, inspiring, and connecting more people with more content and deeper experiences than ever before,” Wilson continued. “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. [...] 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.”
One game the company will “move away” from is a Star Wars first person shooter, reports THR.
“As we’ve looked at [EA’s Star Wars studio] Respawn’s portfolio over the last few months, what’s clear is the games our players are most excited about are Jedi and Respawn’s rich library of owned brands,” president of EA entertainment and technology Laura Miele explained. “Knowing this, we have decided to pivot away from early development on a Star Wars FPS Action game to focus our efforts on new projects based on our owned brands while providing support for existing games. It’s always hard to walk away from a project, and this decision is not a reflection of the team’s talent, tenacity, or passion they have for the game.”
Other recent massive layoffs within the gaming industry include those at Sony, Activision Blizzard, Fortnite studio Epic Games, League of Legends studio Riot Games, and Amazon’s video game streaming service Twitch.
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