EA to lay off about 5% of its workforce, end development of some videogames

by | Feb 28, 2024 | Stock Market

Videogame maker Electronic Arts Inc. said Wednesday it will cut about 5% of its workforce and plans to cancel some games in development. In a letter to employees, Chief Executive Andrew Wilson said “we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans.”

He said the layoffs will affect about 5% of the company’s global workforce, which would be around 670 people, based on a staff of 13,400 as of last March, according to an SEC filing. “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,” Wilson said, allowing EA
EA,
+0.42%
to “double down on our biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports and massive online communities.” It was unclear what games will be canceled. EA has a number of videogames from major franchises such as Marvel and “Star Wars” in development. EA also develops the “Madden NFL” football game, “EA Sports FC” soccer game and the “Apex Legends” franchise. Also see: EA’s upcoming college-football game ‘taking advantage’ of players with $600 payment, expert says The videogame industry — as well as the wider tech industry — has been wracked by layoffs over the last year-plus, with more than 10,000 jobs cut in 2023 and about 8,000 so far this year. Last March, EA laid off about 6% of its workforce. EA’s latest cuts come a day after Sony
SONY,
-0.73%
slashed about 900 jobs in …

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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnVideogame maker Electronic Arts Inc. said Wednesday it will cut about 5% of its workforce and plans to cancel some games in development. In a letter to employees, Chief Executive Andrew Wilson said “we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans.”

He said the layoffs will affect about 5% of the company’s global workforce, which would be around 670 people, based on a staff of 13,400 as of last March, according to an SEC filing. “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,” Wilson said, allowing EA
EA,
+0.42%
to “double down on our biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports and massive online communities.” It was unclear what games will be canceled. EA has a number of videogames from major franchises such as Marvel and “Star Wars” in development. EA also develops the “Madden NFL” football game, “EA Sports FC” soccer game and the “Apex Legends” franchise. Also see: EA’s upcoming college-football game ‘taking advantage’ of players with $600 payment, expert says The videogame industry — as well as the wider tech industry — has been wracked by layoffs over the last year-plus, with more than 10,000 jobs cut in 2023 and about 8,000 so far this year. Last March, EA laid off about 6% of its workforce. EA’s latest cuts come a day after Sony
SONY,
-0.73%
slashed about 900 jobs in …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]

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