EA cancels its Black Panther game and closes developer Cliffhanger Games, further layoffs expected

EA has reportedly cancelled its Black Panther game and closed its developer Cliffhanger Games, and the publisher is laying off more employees across its mobile and central teams.

The details:

• According to a new report from IGN, Cliffhanger's single-player Black Panther game has been cancelled alongside the studio's closure, with EA attempting to move former employees to other areas of the company. However, it has been reported that additional cuts are being made across the publisher, impacting its mobile and central teams. EA has declined to say how many jobs will be cut this time around, but IGN believes it will be fewer than last month's wave of layoffs, which resulted in the loss of approximately 400 jobs.

• In an internal email seen by IGN, EA Entertainment president Laura Miele stated that recent layoffs, the closure of Cliffhanger, and the cancellation of both Black Panther and an unannounced Titanfall game will allow the company to "sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities."

• Miele added that EA's Entertainment division will now concentrate on major franchises such as Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends, while Motive's Iron Man project and Respawn's next Star Wars: Jedi game will remain in development.

• Cliffhanger's Black Panther title was announced in 2023, and it was set to be the studio's first release after being founded by former Monolith head Kevin Stephens, who oversaw the development of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Little was known about the game, except that it would have been a third-person single-player title set in Wakanda, with T'challa's son Azari fighting the Skrull after they kidnapped the superhero.

• This marks yet another round of layoffs at EA, with the publisher's total job losses surpassing 1,000 since the beginning of 2023. So far, the cuts have affected several studios, including BioWare, Respawn, Codemasters, and other internal teams.

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