EA Axes 5% Of Total Workforce, Cancels Respawn’s Star Wars FPS As Part Of Emergency Shift Away From “Licensed IP”
Spencer Baculi
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In the latest entry into the ongoing string of Western video game industry layoffs, EA has announced that, as part of a plan to shift their development attentions away from “licensed” projects and towards those based on IPs they personally own, they have chosen to cut roughly 5% of their total workforce.
Breaking the news to employees on February 28th via an internal company email – itself later made publicly available on EA’s official website – CEO Andrew Wilson explained that the staffing shake-up was the result of various decisions made at the executive-level with the aim of keeping the company in competitive standing amongst its peers.
“Given how and where we are working, we are continuing to optimize our global real estate footprint to best support our business,” said Wilson. “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,” he added, “we expect these decisions to impact approximately 5 percent of our workforce.”
Given that the company reporting in their latest annual report that “As of March 31, 2023, we employed approximately 13,400 people globally”, it’s estimated that the total number of employees set to be affected by these layoffs will land somewhere in the range of 670 individuals.
In service of the proposed shift away from licensed IP, EA announced that they will, as Wilson noted, be bringing an end to a number of officially partnered mobile titles, including Kim Kardashian Hollywood, The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth, F1 Mobile Racing and MLB Tap Sports.
This shift has also led the company to end development on the previously announced Star Wars FPS title from Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment.
While official details regarding the game were never made public, according to Insider Gaming‘s Tom Henderson, it would have seen players “take control of a Mandalorian bounty hunter (unclear who) during the time when the Galactic Empire is dominating across the galaxy” and attempt to “capture bounties dead or alive for cash rewards.”
“As we’ve looked at Respawn’s portfolio over the last few months, what’s clear is the games our players are most excited about are Jedi and Respawn’s rich library of owned brands,” said President of EA Entertainment and Technology Laura Miele in a blog post confirming the game’s cancellation. “Knowing this, we have decided to pivot away from early development on a Star Wars FPS Action game to focus our efforts on new projects based on our owned brands while providing support for existing games.”
Dagan Gera (Cody Fern) brings Cal Kestis (Cameron Monaghan) to heel in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023), Respawn
Despite their above detailed desire to work on their own IPs and cancellation of a highly-anticipated Star Wars title, EA is still reportedly committed to its ongoing partnership with Disney, and thus as of writing the company’s previously announced Iron Man, Black Panther, and third Star Wars Jedi titles are all still considered to be in active development (the fate of Bit Reactor’s Star Wars RTS game remains unconfirmed).
However, whether this partnership will extend past any of these three already-in-production games remains to be seen.
Fuurther, it does not appear that this restructuring will have any have any effect on EA’s continued work on their Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL, and PGA Tour franchises (EA’s partnership with FIFA officially came to an end in 2023, with all future football/soccer titles now being published as part of their new EA Sports FC franchise).
Meanwhile, while not specifically related to EA’s licensing plans, the company also announced that their restructuring plans would see surviving Rideline Games studio members – best known for being formed in order to save Battlefield 2042 from its disastrous launch state – folded into various other Battlefield-related teams.
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