{"id":155631,"date":"2023-04-17T15:27:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T15:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=155631"},"modified":"2023-04-17T15:27:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T15:27:13","slug":"electronic-arts-announces-major-layoffs-despite-strong-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/gaming\/electronic-arts-announces-major-layoffs-despite-strong-profits\/","title":{"rendered":"Electronic Arts Announces Major Layoffs Despite Strong Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\r\n Key Takeaways<\/span>\r\n
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  • Electronic Arts (EA) plans to lay off over 700 employees, about 6% of its global workforce, despite reporting a $1.3 billion gross profit in the latest fiscal quarter.<\/li>\r\n
  • The company aims to shift its focus to projects that align with its strategy, concentrating on successful titles like The Sims 4, EA Sports FIFA 23, and Apex Legends.<\/li>\r\n
  • Affected employees will receive severance pay, healthcare, and transition services, with some being reassigned to other projects within the company.<\/li>\r\n
  • The layoffs are expected to cost EA around $170 million to $200 million, and the company is also reviewing its real estate investments to reduce office space.<\/li>\r\n
  • EA's layoffs follow similar moves by industry peers such as Twitch, Microsoft, Take-Two, and Unity, with some experts suggesting that these layoffs may not result in actual cost-cutting.<\/li>\r\n <\/ul>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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    Electronic Arts (EA), the prominent video game publisher, has announced plans to lay off more than 700 employees, approximately 6% of its global workforce of around 12,900.<\/span><\/p>\n

    CEO Andrew Wilson made the announcement on Wednesday, even as the company reported a $1.3 billion gross profit for its latest fiscal quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

    EA had previously lowered its full-year profit expectations, even though it experienced revenue and profit increases compared to the same period the previous year.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The company cited macro-economic uncertainty as a reason for the layoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This follows similar moves by industry peers, including Twitch, Microsoft, Take-Two, and Unity.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Shift in Focus and Reduction in Office Space<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Wilson did not provide details on which departments or projects would be affected by the layoffs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    He stated that EA would move away from projects not in line with its strategy, focusing on “building games and experiences that entertain massive online communities; creating blockbuster interactive storytelling; and amplifying the power of community in and around our games with social and creator tools.”<\/span><\/p>\n

    The company is set to concentrate its efforts on successful titles like The Sims 4, EA Sports FIFA 23, and Apex Legends.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Additionally, EA will continue supporting Madden 23, Battlefield 2042, and upcoming releases such as Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and The Sims 5.<\/span><\/p>\n

    EA has already announced plans to remove Battlefield 1943, Battlefield: Bad Company, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 from online stores in April.<\/span><\/p>\n

    However, these catalog reductions appear unrelated to the recent layoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Electronic Arts (EA), the prominent video game publisher, has announced plans to lay off more than 700 employees, approximately 6% of its global workforce of around 12,900.<\/p>\n <\/span>\r\n\r\n

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    Severance and Transition for Affected Employees<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Some employees may be reassigned to other projects within the company, while those who cannot be reassigned will receive severance pay, healthcare, and transition services.<\/span><\/p>\n

    EA began notifying affected workers earlier this quarter, and the process is expected to continue into the early part of the next fiscal year, which starts in October.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The company laid off 200 Apex Legends QA testers in February, as reported by Kotaku.<\/span><\/p>\n

    EA is not the only gaming company experiencing significant layoffs; 400 Twitch employees were let go as part of Amazon’s recent termination of 9,000 workers.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees earlier this year, reportedly impacting studios such as Starfield developer Bethesda Softworks and Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Financial Impact of Layoffs<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    According to a financial document published by EA, the company expects the layoffs to cost around $170 million to $200 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

    EA is also said to be reviewing its real estate investments, as part of its strategy to reduce office space.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Some experts argue that such layoffs may not result in actual cost-cutting and could simply be companies following the actions of their peers.<\/span><\/p>\n

    As EA reevaluates its investment strategy and scales back spending, it has also halted development on mobile titles such as Apex Legends Mobile and a mobile Battlefield game.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The company reportedly canceled a new Titanfall single-player game as well.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":155632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}