Electronic Arts to cut 5% of staff and cancel games in cost-cutting drive

29 February 2024 , 14:18

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Electronic Arts is cutting 5% of its workforce and scrapping several in-development games (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Video games developer Electronic Arts (EA) has revealed plans to cut 5% of its staff, about 670 employees, as part of cost-cutting and business restructuring plan.

In an email to the staff EA's boss Andrew Wilson explained that the company will shift its focus from creating new games to concentrating on its "owned IP, sports, and massive online communities". Mr Wilson said that some games in development will be stopped and other planned titles will be cancelled if they don't seem likely to succeed.

Instead, the company will put more effort into its existing games, including EAFC, the football game series previously known as Fifa. He said that the company is navigating through a fast-paced industry transformation where what players want and need has changed a lot.

He added: "Fans are increasingly engaging with the largest IP, and looking to us for broader experiences where they can play, watch, create content, and forge deeper connections. Our industry exists at the cutting edge of entertainment, and in today's dynamic environment, we are advancing the way we work and continuing to evolve our business."

He added: "In this time of change, we expect these decisions to impact approximately 5% of our workforce. I understand this will create uncertainty and be challenging for many who have worked with such dedication and passion and have made important contributions to our company. 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."

Chelsea winners and losers from record transfer window as more changes to come

EA, sadly, hasn't announced who will lose their jobs. The game creator has many offices across the UK including Guildford, Birmingham, Manchester and in Galway in Ireland. This announcement follows hot on the heels of Sony saying they're cutting about 900 jobs from their PlayStation team, including closing their London studio.

This isn't the first time EA had to let people go. Last March, they announced previous job cuts of about 6% of their team. Microsoft also said last month they are getting rid of 1,900 jobs.

Lawrence Matheson