2024-02-29 16:23:49
New tile in the video games industry, the giant Electronic Arts has announced that it is also carrying out massive layoffs, planning to part with 5% of its entire global staff, or around 670 people.
Read also: PlayStation fires 900 employees
In a memo sent to staff today, CEO Andrew Wilson said EA was responding to “accelerating industry transformation, where gamer needs and motivations have changed significantly.”
EA also said it was “stepping away from developing future licensed games.” The publisher currently has several confirmed Star Wars and Marvel games in development, including a third Jedi game, Black Panther, and Iron Man.
Games canceled
The publisher is canceling Respawn’s Star Wars FPS game, which was announced last year but had not yet been fully revealed.
According to IGN, EA plans to move away from “developing future licensed intellectual properties” and focus on its own franchises and sports offerings.
The CEO writes that EA will emphasize intellectual property, sports and “massive online communities.” While it didn’t give details on which games will be disappearing, EA has already announced that it will be discontinuing two mobile games: F1 Mobile Racing and MLB Tap Sports.
Rationalization plan
“This refocus allows us to spark creativity, accelerate innovation and focus on our biggest opportunities – including our intellectual property, sports and massive online communities – to deliver gamers the entertainment that “they expect today and tomorrow. Finally, we are streamlining our company operations to provide fans around the world with deeper, more connected experiences that build community, shape culture, and grow fandom“wrote Mr. Wilson.
F1 Mobile Racing
Electronic Arts
IGN understands that these layoffs will impact a number of teams within EA, particularly support teams. Although some developers are also affected, EA hopes to be able to remove them from canceled projects and assign them to other teams. According to Wilson, these changes are already being communicated and will be “largely” completed by the start of the next quarter.
A new blow for the games industry
This new blow to the games industry comes following a year and a half of massive layoffs in studios of all sizes. The cuts affected around 10,000 developers in 2023 and are approaching 8,000 for the first two months of 2024. Earlier this week, PlayStation laid off 900 people and closed its London studio, while Die Gut Fabrik closed its doors and Supermassive laid off 90 people.
Others point in particular to poor investment decisions on the part of the company’s management, difficulties linked to the increase in the size, scope and production costs of the games, and a lack of long-term planning for the ebb and flow of the gaming industry.
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