Electronic Arts lays off a large number of employees
At the same time as preventing the development of possible unsuccessful works, Electronic Arts announced the dismissal of 5% or 670 of its employees.
After retrenchment at Sony and firing 900 people at PlayStation, it was the turn of Electronic Arts. In a statement, the company announced the layoff of 5% of its total workforce, which is equivalent to 670 people. In a message to employees, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson announced that "the company intends to prevent the development of a future IP (that it does not yet own); A work that will not be successful from EA's point of view." The company will instead focus on its current IPs, sports and multiplayer games.
In this regard, Wilson said: "We are improving our property and assets in order to support our business in the best possible way, keeping in mind how the company operates. We will also prevent the development of future games and IPs that we believe will not be successful for the industry; Such a decision will result in increased creativity, innovation and speed of development in our larger opportunities, which include current IPs, sports and online, so that we can provide the entertainment that players want.
Ultimately, we are focusing the different activities of the company in order to provide deeper experiences for players and segments where a special culture and fans have been formed. At the same time, we expect to be affected by up to 5% of our total workforce. "I understand creating uncertainty and difficult conditions for people who have worked hard and with passion in our company."
Wilson claims that some of the laid-off employees will be given opportunities to work on different projects, but not all of the laid-off workers will be given the opportunity. He said about this:
"Although the mentioned items do not include the status of all teams, this is the most difficult part of the changes. We have explored all possible options to further limit its impact on our forces. Our main goal is to provide alternative opportunities for different team members to start working in new departments and other projects. In situations where it is not possible to do such a thing, we will support our colleagues with full respect and attention. "Talking about the results of these decisions has begun and will be completed in the next three months."
EA announced at the same time as firing its employees that it will completely close the Ridgeline Games studio; The studio that was founded in 2021 and was supposed to develop the story part of the upcoming Battlefield game, whose development was entrusted to Criterion Games. This company had previously licensed the development of several IPs such as Black Panther, Iron Man and the first-person shooter from the Star Wars universe (which was under development by Respawn Entertainment).
It was recently announced that among the games being developed by Electronic Arts, the development of the first-person Star Wars game has been canceled, but the development process of the two Iron Man and Black Panther games from the Marvel universe is progressing well.
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