Sad news came from Electronic Arts tonight. CEO Andrew Wilson, in a statement that is mostly full of meaningless PR talk, announced that 5% of the entire company's workforce will be out of a job, that's roughly 670 jobs. At the same time, he states that the company will abandon the creation of licensed games, because they believe that they will not be successful with the development of the gaming industry. Instead, it should focus on its own IP. Which is very strange, because EA still works with Star Wars brands, and several Marvel women are born in its studios.
Several projects were to be cancelled. Thanks to IGN, we have a rough idea of which ones are specifically affected. It was sure to happen halting development of the Mandalorian FPS shooter, which was worked on by the studio Respawn Entertainment. EA Entertainment president Laura Miele sent out her own statement to employees directly mentioning the Star Wars game.
But fans of Cal Kestis need not be sad. A sequel to Star Wars Jedi is still being developed at Respawn, which EA has already confirmed. Part of the team from the canceled FPS will probably go to the development of Apex Legends, Iron Man or Black Panther.
Shocks for Battlefield
After the flop called Battlefield 2042, EA should have gone into itself and promised players a spectacular return with a new work for the next time. Even for the development of this series, however, there are complications. Indeed, EA completely closed by the studio Ridgeline Games, which was formed only two years ago and was supposed to take care of the single-player part of the new Battlefield. It's not yet clear if this means we'll have to do without the campaign again, but at least it won't look like it was originally planned.
The announcement comes just days after lead developer Marcus Lehto left the studio. It's a little strange again when, after declaring that EA will focus more on its brands, Battlefield, which is one of its biggest standouts, is cut. But not all Ridgeline Games employees will lose their jobs. The part will move to Ripple Effect, where it will continue to work on Battlefield.
EA also had plans to expand its presence on mobile platforms more. Even in this sector, however, it was not without cuts. Several mobile games have been cancelled including the already announced F1 Mobile Racing and MLB Tap Sports. Less than a year after launch, The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth will end.
Fortunately, at least problems are avoided for the time being by the BioWare studio, which is currently concentrating its efforts on completing the fourth Dragon Age. We should probably expect a more comprehensive presentation of it in the foreseeable future. After that, it will be the turn of the already announced Mass Effect sequel, about which we still know very little.
After yesterday's Sony and a number of previous layoff news comes more and more announcements of cuts, cancellations and downsizing of development teams. Although last year we experienced one of the strongest gaming years in the last few years, unfortunately, despite the successes, the development of the gaming industry is currently very unfavorable and we really hope that we will be able to bring you more pleasant news again soon.