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Electronic Arts joins the rest of the gaming industry today in announcing a huge number of employee layoffs. The studio will mass layoff 5% of its total workforce, which equates to about 670 people. Today's announcement from EA comes just a day after Sony announced that they were laying off 900 people across multiple PlayStation studios.
The latest on EA comes from a February 28 report by IGN. IGN says that a note was sent out to EA staff today. In the note CEO Andrew Wilson notes that the company is responding to changing "player needs and motivations." Electronic Arts seems to believe that the gaming industry is trending rapidly towards large open-world games, games with massive communities, and live-service games.
To that end, EA says that they are also "moving away from the development of future licensed IP." Notably, one of the confirmed titles that has been cancelled is the new first-person shooter that Respawn Entertainment was working on. This new Star Wars title was first rumored back in January 2022 and then later confirmed, yet still unrevealed, in 2023.
As EA moves further away from licensed IPs, they will move closer towards IPs that they own, sports titles, and games with those "massive online communities." The full note sent out by Wilson can be found below.
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.
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.
Electronic Arts is also shutting down some of their mobile titles. Some of the mobile games that are ending include: F1 Mobile Racing, MLB Tap Sports, Kim Kardashian Hollywood, and The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth.
EA will shift to putting a larger focus on some of their biggest IPs and franchises: EA Sports, Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, Iron Man, Black Panther, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Dragon Age, Skate, and The Sims. IGN was also able to confirm that there is still a team working on pre-production for the next Mass Effect game, but the focus at BioWare remains on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
IGN also notes that the latest financials for EA were for the quarter ending in December 2023. In that quarter, net bookings were up 7% compared to the same period in 2022. Electronic Arts saw net revenues of $1.95 billion, thanks mostly to EA Sports FC and Madden NFL. Today's layoffs will reportedly add $125 million to $165 million in costs. This amount includes costs related to office space reductions, severance, and "costs related to licensor commitments, likely related to the canceled Star Wars game."
