Electronic Arts is laying off 5% of its workforce

Electronic Arts has announced a restructuring plan that will see it lay off approximately 5% of its global workforce.

The company employed 13,400 staff as of March 2023, according to its most recent annual filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, meaning it could be cutting about 670 jobs.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a letter to employees: “Given how and where we are working, we are continuing to optimize our global real estate footprint to best support our business.

“We are also sunsetting games and moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry.

“This greater focus allows us to drive creativity, accelerate innovation, and double down on our biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities — to deliver the entertainment players want today and tomorrow.

“Lastly, we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere that build community, shape culture, and grow fandom.”

Wilson said of the layoffs: “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.

“Our primary goal is to provide team members with opportunities to find new roles and paths to transition onto other projects. Where that’s not possible, we will support and work with each colleague with the utmost attention, care, and respect. Communicating these impacts has already begun and will be largely completed by early next quarter.”

EA said the actions associated with the restructuring plan are “expected to be substantially complete” by the end of this calendar year.

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that EA has cancelled a licensed game as part of this plan. An EA representative told the site that the company’s Black Panther and Iron Man games are still in development.

It was previously announced that Star Wars Jedi studio Respawn was also working on at least two more Star Wars games.