EA announce they are laying off 5% of workforce

Electronic Arts (EA) have announced that they are laying off 5% of their workforce. This will result in around 670 jobs being lost.

The layoffs were announced as part of a wider plan that also includes the end of some IP's and other business changes.

EA employed over 13,000 workers as of March 2023.

The news that EA were laying off staff was revealed by CEO Sam Wilson in a memo to employees. He said that the video game publisher will be “streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere.”

Additionally, these layoffs will come as EA is doubling down on "owned IP, sports and massive online communities."

The CEO did acknowledge that "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."

Sam Wilson said that the process of EA laying off staff will be completed by "early next quarter".

EA laying off employees might not come as much of a shock to the industry. On Tuesday, Sony announced layoffs of about 8% of its workforce. ESL FACEIT laid off staff yesterday. Additionally, last month Microsoft laid off almost 2,000 employees and Riot Games laid off over 10% of its workforce too.

This is part of a continuing theme in the technology and gaming industry. Layoffs are happening across the board. EA were one of the last major companies to not yet lay off staff in 2024.

Several of these companies saw a boost during the pandemic. Howeverm, they are now suffering as both economic confidence remains low and 'normality' resumes. Riot followed a similar path that EA have set out today. They reduced the number of games they were involved in, doubling down on their core titles.