Electronic Arts will lay off more than 700 employees – 6% of the video game publisher’s global workforce of around 12,900 – CEO Andrew Wilson said on Wednesday.
The mass layoffs come despite a gross profit of $1.3 billion that EA reportedly reported for its most recent fiscal quarter financial statements Handed over to investors in January. Still, the company also lowered its full-year earnings expectations at the time, despite increases in sales and earnings in the same quarterly period beginning in 2022.
“Even amid macroeconomic uncertainty, EA is operating from a position of strength,” Wilson said in announcing the layoffs. He said EA was “gaining momentum,” but still announced the layoffs a few paragraphs later.
Wilson did not specify which segments of the company would be affected by the layoffs; he only said that EA will pull away from projects that don’t align with its strategy: “Develop games and experiences that support huge online communities; creating interactive blockbuster storytelling; and the power of the community in and around our games to power our games with social and developer tools,” he said.
Wilson specifically exclaimed The Sims 4, EA Sports FIFA 23, And Apex Legends for their success. It is likely that the company will focus on supporting Madden 23, Battlefield 2042and beyond, as well Star Wars Jedi: Survivor as soon as that starts at the end of April. EA developer Maxis is also working on it The Sims 5certainly a key project in EA’s portfolio.
Electronic Arts already said that Battlefield 1943, Battlefield Bad CompanyAnd Battlefield Bad Company 2 will be removed from online stores in April, but these catalog reductions do not appear to be related to the layoffs.
Wilson said some workers could be reassigned to other projects; who is not, gets a severance payment and “additional benefits”. The company began “earlier this quarter” announcing personnel changes that are expected to continue through “early next fiscal year,” which begins in October. EA has terminated 200 Apex Legends quality assurance testers in February, according to Kotaku.
EA’s significant layoffs follow a string of other layoffs by its industry peers: 400 Twitch employees were laid off, while Amazon recently laid off 9,000 employees. Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees earlier this year, which reportedly impacted studios starfield Developer Bethesda Softworks and Halo infinity Developer 343 Industries. Elsewhere, take two, Unitand several others have followed suit with layoffs, most citing macroeconomic uncertainty.
Large companies usually make these types of layoffs as a result of slowing growth. (EA also said it was “reviewing” its real estate investments.) Such layoffs might not really lower costs, some experts say — and the layoffs could simply be companies “copying” their peers. according to The Verge. EA expects the layoffs to cost around $170 million to $200 million, it wrote in a financial document released today.
