EA lays off over 300 staff and cancels new Titanfall project

Electronic Arts has reportedly cut more than 300 jobs and shelved multiple projects, including an unannounced Titanfall title.

The details:

• According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the latest round of layoffs affected between 300 and 400 employees, with roughly 100 roles eliminated at Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment. EA confirmed the layoffs, stating they were part of a broader effort to focus on “long-term strategic priorities.” Including these latest cuts, EA has let go of over 1,800 employees since March 2023.
• “As part of our continued focus on our long-term strategic priorities, we've made select changes within our organisation that more effectively aligns teams and allocates resources in service of driving future growth,” an EA spokesperson told Bloomberg.
• Respawn released its own statement acknowledging “targeted team adjustments,” specifically within its Apex and Star Wars Jedi teams. “These decisions aren't easy and we are deeply grateful to every teammate affected,” the statement read. The studio also confirmed the cancellation of “two early-stage incubation projects.”
• Bloomberg reports that one of these projects — codenamed R7 — was a Titanfall-themed extraction shooter led by Titanfall series director Steve Fukuda. The game had previously been confirmed to be in early development earlier this year. It follows the cancellation of Titanfall Legends, a crossover project that was reportedly scrapped in 2023.

Other gaming news:

• Nier's enigmatic creative director, Yoko Taro, believes AI could make all game creators unemployed within 50 years.
• Bethesda has announced that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was played by over four million players in the first four days since its surprise release last week, shattering its Steam record.
• Digital publisher Ziff Davis has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing it of widespread copyright infringement.
• Meta has laid off more than 100 employees from its Reality Labs division, which oversees its AR and VR projects, including Quest.