EA has confirmed a round of layoffs across its development studios, with Star Wars Jedi team Respawn Entertainment seemingly the hardest hit. According to a Bloomberg report that builds on EA's statement, around 300 to 400 employees have reportedly lost their jobs.
Around 100 of those positions were within Respawn Entertainment, and the studio has had to cancel two games that were early in development. Jason Schreier of Bloomberg reports one of them was a Titanfall game designed to be an extraction shooter.
Officially, an EA spokesperson said: "As part of our continued focus on our long-term strategic priorities, we’ve made select changes within our organization that more effectively aligns teams and allocates resources in service of driving future growth."
Respawn Entertainment also had a statement of its own to share, where it confirmed "two early-stage incubation projects" have been cancelled. "These decisions aren't easy, and we are deeply grateful to every teammate affected — their creativity and contributions have helped build Respawn into what it is today," the statement continued. "We're offering meaningful support those impacted, including exploring new opportunities within EA."
[source bloomberg.com]
Comments 53
God, what a rotten time in the industry
Less Titanfall in exchange for more Jedi games is a bummer
I really hate these PR statements. Who exactly are they for? We all know this is terrible. They aren't fooling anyone.
"Two games were cancelled. One of them was a Titanfall game..."
What? No way...say it ain't the case!
"...designed to be an extraction shooter."
Oh, I can live with that 🙂.
Titanfall game cancelled- nooooooo! Wait, an extraction shooter? Good ***** riddance. Rip losing your job though
These large publishers just need to go away. All they mostly do is chase trends and try to extract as much profit in the short-term to appease the investors and not think about the long-term growth of the industry.
The developers likely didn't want to make an extraction shooter, EA gave them no choice. EA is sat on some absolutely gold IP and they waste it all.
EA completely screwed Respawn from the launch of Titanfall 2, it’s been an uphill battle ever since.
Respawn dies because of EA’s greed.
And this is with EA Sports FC, Madden and Apex Legends printing money for them.
More IPs to the EA graveyard.
They should have learned from XDefiant. Ubisoft said it wasn't dying then three months later (at Christmas) let go of 300 people. It's not too much of a stretch to think that if that Titanfall game did get released, and it did flop that those 300 to 400 people would have still lost their jobs. It always feels like adding insult to injury when you hear that someone put time and effort into a project, the project got cancelled meaning their work was for nothing and then to top it off they lost their jobs.
Every-time I swear.
Everyone laid off has my sympathy.
EA on the other hand does not.
It makes me wonder how much different the industry would be without the greed of the biggest companies and their ‘maximise profits at the expense of everything else’ mentality.
@ThorsHammer
Yeah, extraction shooters just ain't it, It seems the industry is finally starting to see that with how audiences reacted to stuff like Marathon.
Just do Titanfall 3 ffs, stop ***** with the formula.
Ah yes, lay off the Respawn developers, you know, probably the best studio you have going currently. Good job, EA. It's nice to know you'll never change.
I really wish Respawn would be allowed to push the envelope with Titanfall. Apex Legends just isn't it, imo.
The TF2 multiplayer was SO GOOD at making you feel like a small piece of a large scale conflict. Why are they not exploring more of that in the multiplayer space?
I honestly think something like a Titanfall: Warfare or something where the matches played almost akin to a MOBA (think Battleborn with mechs) or Battlefield's Rush mode would be BONKERS cool. You'd have the tight grunt skirmishes on the ground, building up to all out mania when Titans started being called in, at which point the battles would shift to mech on mech bananzas. Make it all about the push and pull of the battle over large spaces and... my goodness. I'd never play another shooter.
I've noticed the ones who put their games into a subscription service are the ones suffering the most. Ubisoft, Microsoft and now EA. Sony were smart not to follow.
@AgentMantis It makes you wonder if they know their job is on the line when they get forced into those situations. The handful I knew all worked on the same MMo. They hated upper management and were frequently forced into making changes that they didn't agree with. Every single one of them left, their Glassdoor exit reviews for the company said it all. This is one of them:
No company culture. Everything has to be done ASAP, with very little room for creativity and experimentation. Stress levels keep everyone on edge. Very little time to take a deep breath and enjoy work. The proprietary engine used is years old and hasn't seen a lot of modernization. The dev teams are unable to steer the games or company in any direction other than what is dictated by the top two or three Directors. Quality of the games are an afterthought, as the primary goal is to create systems and mechanics that will monetize well. Most of the teams here do NOT play the games that they build. This is disheartening when trying to have a conversation about what works or not, and are shushed by someone who has only played a single level 20 toon (and only due to a bonus requirement).
That kind of thing made me more careful about which companies and publishers got my time and money. That review is ten years old now but matches what a lot of current devs have said about online shooters and Fortnite clones. I think I'd rather work in a coalmine than for a company like EA.
If they cancel 2 games it's a given they'll be hefty lay offs. The industry is built in such a way that certain specific roles aren't required all the time and so keeping a fully staffed studio sitting around twiddling their thumbs for substantial periods of time when it isn't required makes zero financial sense.
There really needs to be an acceptance that this is just the norm in the industry now. Certain roles are essentially contract based in all but writing, you come on board when its time, do your role, get paid decently for it then when youre done you move on.
When studios ramp up development and hire when neccesary, nowhere near as much fanfare is made around that.
“a Titanfall game designed to be an extraction shooter.“
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
@naruball yeah these statements are just copy/paste. Never anything original, meaningful or believable.
@UltimateOtaku91 what makes you think EA are struggling? Layoffs don't happen because they can't afford it, it's done because it's financially prudent.
The Ea sports games franchises are amongst the most lucrative in the entire industry, they're in no way struggling.
Surprised they havent closed Bioware. 3 consecutive games that lost hundreds of millions
3-400 people? Christ on a bike thats alot of people to just dump outside in the cold. Its not as though EA dont make enough wedge off their sports games. Lets all hope they find jobs soon, preferably for a better company than EA. To be honest that shouldnt be too hard really... unless they all end up at UBI.
Ah, yes. "made select changes to effectively align teams"
Shut the f*** up, EA Spokesperson 😂
Can't they just fire all the people that write these statements and announce bad news in shockingly bad ways 🤦♂️
@ThorsHammer my thoughts exactly! Just give me the multiplayer deathmatches and another great campaign. Does not need to be a constant grind game.
These game publishers are becoming memes in themselves. I would take another Titanfall over anything else they release
@Ravix they don't care less about the employees these people don't as long as it's not them losing there jobs
I'm so confused y fire the people who made actual successful games 🤔
All I can think of every time I see just about ANYTHING when it comes to EA is………F U EA!!!!!!!!
Yet all the high paid execs, the one’s responsible for poor business decisions, will keep their jobs. Disgusting.
Meanwhile Shift Up...
Being a Titanfall fan sounds like an absolutely horrendous experience.
@Bluemoon2008 It seems like they've been in decline for many years now, Wether it's Studio closures, game cancellations, lay offs, losing the Fifa licence, last battlefield flopping, Dragon Age Veilguard under performing, giving up on EA originals, lack of growth and stock declines (more than once).
The company can't catch a break, even Apex Legends lost 70% of its players last year on steam alone, even EA Sports FC isn't doing as good anymore.
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/03/06/myriad-factors-took-a-bite-out-of-ea-sports-fc-25-sales/
400 people is a lot, UPS today closed 70 facilities, and 20,000 jobs.
EA is severely downsizing. They are not the publisher they once were and it seems to be getting worse.
That's what happens when you mismanage your studios.
I want a story based Titanfall. TF2 was awesome. Live service is killing so many IPs
Considering clair obscur 33 only made by about 33 people, I hope the one that laid off can get making their own games, maybe we'll get 10 clair obscur 33-like games in the future from them 😃
@wiiware that would be lovely
Full solidarity with the laid-off workers! Unionise, folks!!!
***** EA! I said it as early as yesterday, their stupid subscription service gives away games virtually for free and now the developers pay the price.
Only a trillion dollar company who is allowed into the sacred, once walled garden of a competitor who cultivated a culture of buying to support, can have a ridiculous subscription service that isn't sustainable, and even then said developer will also layoff staff, slowly but surely.
@UltimateOtaku91
Exactly my thoughts yesterday, waking up today and seeing this ***** makes for a bizarre wake-up call.
@joeyflannel rotten time for western devs and publishers. Rest of the market is doing great.
You might expect that executives are intelligent people, but from close experience they are not. actualy very short sighted humanbeings living in a bubble all together.
a bubble of arrogancy and ego's.
they can never think in solutions, just watching sales figures, making the worse decisions not knowing any concequence.
The sooner EA dies the better.
Any Titanfall fan just wants Titanfall 3 and to continue the story of 2 with the same characters the guy who voiced BT was brilliant. I still play the campaign from time to time to this day, shame online is broken due to hackers Frontia Defence mode was my fave
@naruball They're for shareholders, and shareholders only - expertly crafted with HR input to ensure the message is laced with justification for the layoffs.
Damn, that many in one fell swoop? I guess EA has been feeling salty at other publishers snatching away its 'Industry's Worst' crown in recent years and wants to get back in on the action.
@Marathon5150 Good luck funding your studio's next game development without a publisher
@viktorcode There are plenty of good publishers out there that don't try to monetize the hell out of games.
@Marquez yes, but shareholders know exactly what is happening. So has does this text worded like this help in any way?
If i am 15 years old, why should i study video game development?
If i will kicked like a dog every year.
@naruball It doesn’t help anyone but investors and potential investors I guess.
EA are making it hard to want to support games like this or give them money. Not that I give them money anyway really. They haven't offered anything exciting in years. Last time I bought something from them was probably Grid Legends.
That's it. Everything else was old like Army of Two Devil's Cartel on 360 physical (so no money to them).
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