Today Electronic Arts announced that it intends to lay off 5% of its workforce via a letter signed by its CEO Andrew Wilson.
In the letter, published on the company's official site Wilson mentions that EA is reducing its real estate spaces, sunsetting existing games, and moving away from the development of future licensed IP.
Wilson argues that those IPs will not be successful in the changing industry landscape.
According to the executive, this will enable a greater focus on owned IP, sports, and massive online communities.
Wilson admits that the announcement will create uncertainty and be challenging for EA's employees. He mentions that not every team will be impacted and the company has considered "every option to try and limit impacts to its teams."
He adds that the primary goal remains to provide team members with the ability to transition to new roles or new teams. In cases where this is not possible, he promises EA will work with those impacted "with the utmost attention, care, and respect."
Communication of the layoffs has already begun, and Wilson expects the process will end early next quarter, which begins on April 1.
Below you can read the full message.
Team,
We are entertaining, inspiring, and connecting more people with more content and deeper experiences than ever before. 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. These actions have positioned us to build bigger, bolder experiences for hundreds of millions of players and fans around the world.
We are also leading through an accelerating industry transformation where player needs and motivations have changed significantly. Fans are increasingly engaging with the largest IP, and looking to us for broader experiences where they can play, watch, create content, and forge deeper connections. Our industry exists at the cutting edge of entertainment, and in today’s dynamic environment, we are advancing the way we work and continuing to evolve our business.
As a company full of creators and storytellers, we believe in the value of teams innovating together, and continue to learn and adopt new ways of collaborating to grow and serve our global communities. 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. Lastly, we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere that build community, shape culture, and grow fandom.
In this time of change, we expect these decisions to impact approximately 5 percent of our workforce. 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.
I want to extend my appreciation to everyone who has helped contribute to EA’s ongoing story. We are a team that leans into our values to lead the future of entertainment, and I look forward to what we will create together. Thank you for all that you do.
Update: a further post by Laura Miele, President of EA Entertainment and Technology mentions that an "FPS action game" in development at Respawn and based on the Star Wars IP has been canceled.
We also hear that Seattle-based studio Ridgeline will be closed and some of its members will join Ripple Effect.
This follows yesterday's announcement of the brand-new F1 24 by Codemasters, and the latest financial results announcement, which the company defined as "Strong."
Thousands of layoffs have affected the gaming industry between the second half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, involving many companies large and small like Sony, Microsoft, Bungie, 2K Games, Epic Games, Tencent, Amazon, Frontier, Team17, People can Fly, Deck Nine Games, Supermassive Games, ZA/UM, and more, on top of several of Embracer's studios.
