Following two large-scale layoffs in 2023, Electronic Arts (EA), a well-known video game company in the United States, announced layoffs again, with about 650 to 670 team members being laid off. The planned reduction is about 5% of the total number of employees.
Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson told employees in a memo that the company would halt the development of some games. Wilson said the company is streamlining operations. The layoffs, which are based in California and have developed games such as Need for Speed and F1 racing, have 13,400 employees, according to their annual report last year, and the layoffs mean about 670 people will be involved. Electronic Arts previously laid off 800 employees in early 2023, followed by 50 team members at its renowned game studio. In the middle of this month, Electronic Arts has confirmed that it will cease operating two mobile games.
A wave of layoffs in the tech world is sweeping through the video game industry. On February 27, Sony Interactive Entertainment***, a subsidiary of Japan's Sony Group in California, issued a statement saying that it plans to start laying off about 8% of its employees worldwide, or about 900 people.
EA will lay off more than 650 employees.
According to EA, it will lay off 5% of its total workforce. Based on the total number of employees previously announced by EA, this means that between 650 and 670 team members will be laid off.
Previously, EA laid off 800 employees in early 2023, followed by 50 team members at its well-known developer, Bioware Studios.
After this layoff, EA's focus will shift from licensing IP to doubling down on its own IP, sports games, and large** communities.
It is reported that a Star Wars FPS (first-person shooter) game being developed by EA's Respawn studio has also been canceled. At the same time, EA will no longer operate Ridgeline Games as an independent studio, and some team members will join the Battlefield team to work on the next title. In addition, the third game in the Star Wars: Jedi series is still in development.
EA is a world-renowned interactive entertainment software company, founded in 1982 and headquartered in California, USA. Its representative works include FIFA, Need for Speed, Battlefield, The Sims and other series.
Microsoft and Sony have announced layoffs.
Since the beginning of this year, a number of well-known game companies have announced layoffs.
Sony Interactive Entertainment SIE issued a statement on February 27 local time, saying that it plans to start laying off about 8% of its global workforce, with a scale of about 900 people, mainly focused on the Play Station business, and the London studio in the United Kingdom will be closed as a whole, and several other studios around the world will also be affected by the layoffs.
According to **, Sony previously announced that due to the slowdown in sales, the sales forecast for the PlayStation 5 game console this fiscal year fell from 25 million units to 21 million units.
At the end of last month, Microsoft announced that it would make personnel changes to the gaming department, and the gaming department will lay off 1,900 people, accounting for about 8% of the department (the total game team is 2.).20,000 people). It is reported that the employees involved in the layoffs are distributed among the Activision Blizzard, Zenimax and Xbox teams, with Activision Blizzard being the main one.
In the same month, Riot Games released an open letter stating that the company would cut about 530 positions globally, or about 11% of Riot Games, and that the layoffs would have the greatest impact on teams outside of core development.
In addition, according to ** reports, video game engine maker Unity Software disclosed in a filing with the US ** Exchange Commission at the beginning of the year that the company will lay off about 1,800 people, about 25% of its current total workforce.
*: CCTV Finance).
Editor: Shang Pei].
*: CCTV Finance).