Electronic Arts, the video game publisher better known simply as EA, has reportedly laid off 5% of its workforce and canceled a planned Star Wars game, according to The Wrap.
- EA is laying off 670 staffers, which CEO Andrew Wilson wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday:
- “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.”
- “Lastly, we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere that build community, shape culture and grow fandom. 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.”
- With these cutbacks, EA has also canceled a first-person shooter game set in the Star Wars universe.
- President of EA entertainment and technology Laura Miele explained the cancelation:
- “Respawn’s unique ability to connect with players and create exceptional game experiences is unrivaled in entertainment. 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.”
- This isn’t the first time EA has scrapped a Star Wars game. The developer canceled an open-world game back in 2019 as well.