It seems lately that every other week we hear of new mass layoffs within the video game industry and unfortunately, Electronic Arts employees have been the next in line to lose their jobs.
This week, Sony issued over 900 layoffs impacting some of its key PlayStation development studios including the likes of Guerilla Games, Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog to name a few. Now, it’s the turn of EA with a reported 700 employees being forced out of work as the company issues its strategy to maximise profits and cut costs. Sadly, as is often the case, the brunt of those cost-cutting tactics are lower-paid employees while CEOs who make the big decisions that can at times negatively impact profits remain unscathed.
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It’s always sad when people lose employment with bills to pay and families to provide for. As reported by esports.net, the domino effect of EA's recent cost-cutting strategy, multiple franchises have also been killed off. One of those franchises impacted is the Battlefield series which has been around since 2002 and used to be one of the EA’s most profitable properties.
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When Battlefield 2042 was released in 2021 it launched with missing features, uninspired maps and a whole host of bugs. Over time, many of those issues were fixed but a lot of the damage was already done. So it would be safe to assume that much consumer trust has been lost even with the anticipated arrival of the next Battlefield game.
It’s not likely that the Battlefield series will be cancelled anytime soon, however, some of the job losses have impacted Seattle-based studio Ridgeline Games who were working on the single-player mode of the next Battlefield. This comes just days after Battlefield game director Marcus Lehto left EA, which could be a timely coincidence.
Elsewhere, other EA projects that have been cancelled are a series of mobile games such as F1 Mobile Racing, MLB Tap Sports, and The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth. Even the recently leaked Star Wars Mandalorian game has reportedly been cancelled.
Whether it is AAA big-hitters or small mobile games, the biggest takeaway from this story is the over 700 job losses at EA, in addition to the recent PlayStation cuts, not to mention all the jobs lost in recent months. It’s a sad time for the industry. I just hope that those workers who have lost their jobs land new employment as soon as possible.
Featured Image Credit: Electronic ArtsTopics: Battlefield, EA, Mobile Games, PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Guerrilla Games, Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Battlefield 2042