EA lays off 5% of its workforce, closes Battlefield campaign studio

by Danny Craig ·

Electronic Arts

EA has announced that it has once again reduced its workforce in order to continue "streamlining [its] company operations," which has resulted in the closure of Ridgeline Games.

The details:

In an email sent to employees, CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed the layoffs, which are expected to affect approximately 670 employees, stating that the decision is part of the company's ongoing goal to "optimise our global real estate footprint to best support our business." Wilson added that the company would shift its focus away from "future licensed IP" and toward "owned IP, sports, and massive online communities."
The CEO stated that EA has begun "communicating these impacts" to those affected, and that the layoff process is expected to be completed by the start of the next quarter.
It has also been confirmed that Ridgeline Games has closed its doors just over two years after its opening in late 2021, with Criterion Games taking over its narrative-focused Battlefield campaign project and some staff joining Ripple Effect. Former studio head and co-founder Marcus Lehto, who left the developer last week, described the closure as a "gut punch" in a post on X.
This is EA's fourth round of layoffs in the last year, following cuts at the publisher in March, and further reductions at Firemonkeys and Codemasters in June and December, respectively.

More gaming news:

Nintendo has sued the creator of Yuzu, a Switch emulator. It is claimed that Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was pirated over one million times before its release, with Yuzu being used to play the game.
PlayStation has announced that it is cutting its global workforce by 8%, impacting Insomniac Games, Firesprite, Naughty Dog, and Guerrilla, with London Studio closing its doors entirely.